


The Little Merman

by soobiscuits



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-07-10 17:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6998317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soobiscuits/pseuds/soobiscuits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyungsoo's had feelings for the boy from The Surface for five years now, and he's been wishing for the day when he will finally get to talk to him in person. </p><p>But Chanyeol doesn't seem to know of his existence. Chanyeol doesn't know of the boy from The Ocean. </p><p>Or does he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tail 1

**Author's Note:**

> Chasing after plot bunnies as usual. What's new. 
> 
> Super gratuitous (I mean come on it's based on my favourite Disney movie The Little Mermaid and I'm forcing Chansoo into it), so don't mind me and move along (don't, okay).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited it, hence the reupload! 
> 
> Hit me up at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) and [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits)!

_Who would be_

_A mermaid fair,_

_Singing alone,_

_Combing her hair,_

_Under the sea,_

_In a golden curl_

_With a comb of pearl,_

_On a throne?_

 

_— The Mermaid I ; Alfred, Lord Tennyson_

 

 

* * *

 

 

“I don’t think this is such a good idea…”

 

“Oh, would you stop being such a wimp, Youngest Prince.”

 

“I-I most certainly am n-not–”

 

“You are, and have been for the past seventeen years.”

 

“...”

 

“And, you’re even more of a wimp whenever, uh, whassit called — the season of The Ocean turning cold? — rolls around.”

 

“It’s called November.”

 

“Whatever; I can never understand why the King wants names for the changing of water temperature.”

 

“Baekhyun…”

 

“Don’t _Baekhyun_ me.”

 

“...”

 

“Besides, if the — what’s that thing your father gives you at the start of every year?”

 

“... A calendar.”

 

“Ah right! Calendar! If the calendar that we’ve been diligently checking off everyday is correct, it’s tonight! And there is no way you’re missing it! Not on my watch! And I pride myself on being able to drag you there every year so don’t you dare rain on my parade this year by being extra wimpy.”

 

“...”

 

“You know you want to anyway. You know you want to see _him_.”

 

“... You’re insufferable.”

 

“Thank you very much for the compliment, Youngest Prince.”

 

“That wasn’t a com– And stop calling me that!”

 

“Yes, _that person’s admirer._ ”

 

“UGH I SWEAR I WILL FILLET YOU!”

 

“You’re far too wimpy to do it, my dear Kyungsoo. And besides, you love me too much to do it.”

 

“... Ugh, I give up.”

 

“Good, now stop pretending that you don’t want to see _him_ and grab onto me. I can sense that the festivities are starting.”

 

“I hope you know that the only reason you’re not sashimi yet is because you’re my best friend, Baekhyun.”

 

“I most certainly do, _Youngest Prince_.”

 

“Stop it!”

  
  


\---

  
  


It was during the season of when The Ocean is gradually becoming cold when Kyungsoo went up to The Surface for the first time.

 

Even though he had been awed by the night sky littered with twinkling lights and had relished in the foreign-feeling yet soothing wind grazing his face and exposed shoulder that caused him to shudder, Kyungsoo forgot about them in a heartbeat the moment he felt his eyes stinging from the droplets of seawater his troublemaker of a best friend had splashed on him and pointed towards a majestic structure that sat on the shore and looked eerily similar to his own home beneath the waves.

 

Grabbing onto his friend’s tail, Kyungsoo let Baekhyun drag him closer to the structure. Throughout the short journey, his eyes never strayed away from it; they only flitted from feature to feature, noticing the similarities and differences of this above-water palace and the one he lived in underwater, and a particular part of The Surface Palace (or TSP) captured Kyungsoo’s attention. It was a balcony.

 

Kyungsoo was fascinated with that balcony because he has one too! In fact, not to brag or anything really, but his room is the _only_ room with a balcony attached to it. Kyungsoo wasn’t allocated to that wonderful room by doing nothing, if you must know. It had been the result of his hard work and (mostly) sheer luck when he was crowned the winner after a series of deathmatches where the King pitted his four sons against one another and forced them to go through a scissors, paper, stone tournament if they wanted the room.

 

(Things weren’t pretty after Kyungsoo won his third elder brother in the final round. Sehun had thrown a huge tantrum and refused to speak to Kyungsoo for almost two weeks. It took a huge painful smack on the back and a stern warning from their father for that petulant child to interact with his younger brother again.

 

Yifan sometimes wonder if he had mixed up Kyungsoo and Sehun’s ages, given that they’re only nine months apart. Oh well. At least Sehun can’t get away with the dumb things that he does because he _thinks_ he’s the youngest but he isn’t. Phew.)

 

The pair of best friends hid behind a rock, using darkness as a cover to look up at the lit palace seated on the shore with inquisitive eyes. Up close, Kyungsoo could see TSP far more clearly, but his eyes remained locked on the balcony. He took in the large crowd bustling about in that space — half worrying if the balcony is sturdy enough to hold that many people (because Kyungsoo’s balcony has only held the weight of its owner and perhaps Baekhyun’s) while half noticing the numerous thingamabobs they were holding in their hands. Kyungsoo’s eyes glinted when he spotted a silver fork and the merboy would have leapt onto shore in order to get his hands on one of those if not for Baekhyun’s hiss of _what in the seven seas are you trying to do Soo_ snapping him out of his daze. That had been close. He could have been seen. He could have been spotted by the humans and the consequences would have been dire.

 

Leaving the territories of The Ocean and coming up to The Surface is against the rules, but Baekhyun, The Ocean’s resident rulebreaker, decided to make Kyungsoo his accomplice anyway. In Baekhyun’s defense, which he iterated to Kyungsoo’s father, the King, hours later after Jongdae, the King’s crabby trusted advisor, went up to get them, Kyungsoo needed the cheer-me-up. He was sad, having gotten himself thrashed in a kelp soup eat-off with his eldest brother, Minseok, and lost his favourite thingamabob to him. That silver fork was something Kyungsoo really cherished, so it actually hit the young merboy quite hard.  

 

Which was why Kyungsoo decided to tear his eyes away from the balcony for a while, lest he commit something that would get himself killed by the King. Allowing Baekhyun to bring him up here was already a huge mistake; Kyungsoo really didn’t need another for his father to condemn him more. Also, that bloody silver fork was tempting him too much. Instead, he busied himself with swishing his tail, trying to comprehend if the movement was akin to how humans moved around with their legs. He wouldn’t know, though. The merboy would never have legs, even if he had been a tad curious about it. A deafening loud _boom_ snapped Kyungsoo out of his thoughts, and the instant his large eyes darted towards the sound, his thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind.

 

According to Jongdae, the things that were making the loud _boom_ sounds are called fireworks. Kyungsoo didn’t know what these fireworks were at first, but after seeing how golden streaks exploded into bright colourful flowers up in the night sky, he knew he’d like them. Unlike Baekhyun, who had dove into his companion’s arms with a frightened squeak the moment the first firework went off, Kyungsoo wasn’t afraid. He was wonderstruck.

 

But what captured Kyungsoo’s attention even more than the fireworks (and that said a lot given how the Youngest Prince couldn’t stop yakking about it to both Baekhyun and Jongdae even after being grounded to his room by his father for his disobedience) was this human that stood on the balcony. The crowd had backed away from the edge of the balcony, leaving that human to stand alone at the forefront of the space. From where he was, Kyungsoo couldn’t see much. He could, however, make out that the human’s hair was black, a sharp contrast to Kyungsoo’s fiery red (and the other brightly coloured hair his brothers have), and that he was smiling. Oh gosh, that broad grin. And that silly-looking expression on the human’s face that mirrored his own as the human, too, looked up at the night sky to bask in the fireworks that showered colours upon both land and sea.

 

That was the instance that Kyungsoo decided that he wanted to befriend that human. As he laid on his bed on the first night of his grounding, Kyungsoo thought about a plan to be friends with the human that he saw. He should probably find out his name first, just as what Baekhyun had done the first time they met all those years ago. The yellow tropical fish just swam up to him during the first day of preschool and demanded _hey you merboy with large eyes what’s your name_. Kyungsoo could do that. Or not, seeing how he probably couldn’t just swim up to the human and ask for his name. Ugh, why did TOP (The Ocean Palace) have to be so far from TSP? And why did his father have to make rules to prevent sea creatures from venturing up to The Surface? Bah.

 

These restrictions weren’t helping Kyungsoo at all, but he knew that he’d figure something out sooner or later. It was only a matter of time.

 

Kyungsoo was twelve. It has been five years since then and seventeen-year-old Kyungsoo still doesn’t know that human’s name. He’s not giving up though. Kyungsoo won’t give up until he knows the name of that human boy he saw that night on the balcony.


	2. Tail 2

_ Man – a free man – always loves the sea _

_ and in its endlessly unrolling surge _

_ will contemplate his soul as in a glass _

_ where gulfs as bitter gape within his mind. _

 

_ Into this image of himself he dives,  _

_ his arms and eyes wide open and his heart  _

_ sometimes diverted from its own dead march  _

_ by the tides of that untamable complaint. _

 

_ — Man and Sea ; Charles Baudelaire _

 

__

* * *

 

  
  
  


It was on his birthday when Chanyeol saw fireworks for the first time. 

 

He hadn't known what they were, until his elder sister told him a couple of hours later when she tucked him into bed and allowed him to excitedly gush about his own birthday party that was held in the midst of his royal family. Chanyeol hadn’t expected those  _ loud but super pretty flowers in the sky  _ —  _ “They're called fireworks, Yeol, fireworks!”  _ — not when his sister hadn't gotten them during her own birthday. 

 

Yura wasn't too jealous though, just a teeny weeny bit miffed that Chanyeol had the exact same programme as she had for her own birthday party but with the added surprise of fireworks, and Chanyeol thought that his fifteen-year-old sister really had grown up. At that moment, the young boy decided that he wanted to be as mature as his sister had become. 

 

Yet, there was one thing Chanyeol would never want from his sister. And that is her inability to swim. 

 

Goodness knows why Park Yura can't stop herself from almost drowning whenever she went into water (which was what she did every time she attempted to swim). The King and the Queen have invited numerous people that are capable of swimming to come to the Palace and teach their daughter (and son, for Chanyeol would always sneak himself into the lessons), only to have the same report over and over that  _ I'm sorry but the princess simply just can't swim _ . But at least they know that one of their children can. And exceptionally as well. 

 

Chanyeol’s father would never waste a chance to tell (then subsequently remind) Chanyeol that he was meant for great things… that had to do with water. Well, Chanyeol sure as hell knew that he had no affinity with academics, or dancing, or whatever princely matters his mother had put him up to, only to give up when she realised just how horrible her son was at basically anything that didn't have to do with The Ocean. Which was apt because Chanyeol was born at sea, on a boat that had absolutely nothing to aid the Queen in her birth (unless her parasol was counted). It was no wonder that Chanyeol grew up to be a troublemaker, his boisterous personality probably revenge towards his parents for not making his passage into the world a smooth and comfortable one. (Poor baby Yeol was swaddled in his mother’s bloodied skirt until his father paddled the boat back to shore.)

 

So yes, Chanyeol was exceptional at things to do with water, or specifically The Ocean. He'd help his father with planning sea routes, predicting the weather, and decide which ships they ought to send to other lands for trade. Chanyeol was good, and he got really good as the years passed and the chubby boy gradually became  _ a heartthrob _ according to Yura. Gone was his baby face and thick limbs, and he had to get used to his ever increasing height and limbs. He still had his black hair though, and Chanyeol was glad about that. 

 

Despite his involvement and achievements in matters concerning The Ocean, Chanyeol had never once stepped into it. He had only looked out, from his room’s balcony, at the expanse of it, big eyes taking in the big big blue, as he dreamily wondered when his first voyage on a ship would be, and what kind of sea creatures he would meet. 

 

You could say that the Prince was obsessed about all things oceanic. But there was one thing about The Ocean that Park Chanyeol really loved (and was absolutely fanatic about). 

 

Merpeople. 

 

When Chanyeol was seven years of age, his mother gifted him a set of children's books that depicted stories about sea creatures beneath the waves. As a young Prince-in-training, Chanyeol  _ politely _ (when all he wanted to was demand, frankly) asked to be read to with those books during his bedtime, and on the third night, the boy came to know about merpeople. That book contained colourful illustrations of merpeople, the curves of their brightly-coloured tails prettily drawn to show that they were swimming in the waters. With happy expressions on their faces, and not a single hair of their equally brightly-coloured locks out of place, to say that Chanyeol was smitten would be an understatement. 

 

Chanyeol wanted to  _ be  _ one. He wanted to be a merboy.

 

And became one he did. Well, sort of. The young Prince got himself a tail made for him, which he could wriggle his legs into before diving into the Palace’s large pool. At first, Chanyeol almost drowned, despite his strong swimming ability, because he didn’t know how to keep himself afloat or swim with his new tail. So he went back to the basics. Fingers clutching the edge of the pool, Chanyeol kicked his tail until he could release his hold for a few seconds and float without drowning. He moved on, arms wrapping around a float as he attempted to swim around the pool by applying what he had self-learnt about kicking his tail. 

 

See, Chanyeol really did seem like he was meant for great things… as long as they had something to do with water. 

 

As Chanyeol gradually got the hang of swimming with his tail, he tried diving beneath the surface to practice gliding along the pool’s floor. Even though he almost drowned (again) due to a lack of air, the Prince did not give up and managed to stay underwater for more than a minute after days and weeks of practice. 

 

Days and weeks soon bled into months and years, and with time accompanied change. As Chanyeol’s legs grew together with his body, his tail grew along with them. Every year he had to get another tail made for him to keep up with his growth, and in a corner of Chanyeol’s room were several chests where he kept the tails that he had outgrown. Chanyeol couldn’t bear to throw them away, seeing how the sequins, that aimed to be replicas of scales, seemed to be handsewn onto the waterproof cloth before being wrapped in a clear waterproof material. The fact that his parents were willing to fork out cash for this beautiful yet seemingly useless piece of fabric year after year warmed Chanyeol’s heart. So no, how could he be heartless and throw those tails away?

 

One day, though, one day Chanyeol will swim in The Ocean with his tail. It was only a matter of time. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Yura, have you been out to sea before?”

 

“Nope, I haven’t. Why do you ask, Yeol?”

 

“Just thought of it, and realised that I’ve never once asked you.”

 

“Mm, I see. I don’t think I’d want to go out there, though.”

 

“Because you can’t swim for nuts?”

 

“Exactly. I don’t want to drown out there. Nobody’s going to save me.”

 

“The merpeople might. A merperson might be swimming near the surface and upon seeing you splashing, he’ll swim over and save you!”

 

“... What makes you think it’ll be a  _ he _ , Yeol? It could be a mermaid.”

 

“Because I’m a romantic at heart and you’re a princess, Yura! Dream a little! It’s definitely going to be a merman who will save you. What if that merman is a prince of the palace of The Ocean!?” 

 

“Chanyeol! Sheesh, you and your imagination.” 

 

“You’re blushing, Yura! Don’t deny that you want something like this to happen!” 

 

“If anything, I’d change the merman to a human thank you very much. I like my man with legs, not a tail. Unlike you.”

 

“I really want to know if they exist… I want to meet one so badly.”

 

“And you will, baby bro, I know you will. I may not know if merpeople do exist, but my gut tells me they’re real. They’re probably really shy and afraid of us! So we need a friendly hero to break the barrier between us, and that hero is you, Yeol!” 

 

“You think so?”

 

“I know so. I don’t think there’s anyone else who loves merpeople more than you do, and no one with the same friendliness and kindness you possess.”

 

“Thanks, Yura.” 

 

“You’re welcome, but I’ve got to go for my ballroom dancing lesson now. Catch you at dinner, Yeollie!”

 

“Bye– Wow, she runs– OH MY GOSH!”

 

_ Did I… see what I thought I saw…?  _

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EXO's bowling broadcast was nuts and I went nuts on the bus home and I bet the commuters also went nuts staring at this hysterical chansoo (their photocards are slapped at the back of my phone) fangirl laughing to herself and yeah, no regrets there guys. 
> 
> If you would like to make a friend, come talk to me at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) and [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits)!


	3. Tail 3

_ I would be a mermaid fair; _

_ I would sing to myself the whole of the day; _

_ With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair; _

_ And still as I combed I would sing and say,  _

_ “Who is it loves me? who loves not me?” _

_ I would comb my hair til my ringlets would fall _

_ Low adown, low adown, _

_ From under my starry sea-bud crown _

_ Low adown, low adown, _

_ And I should look like a fountain of gold _

_ Springing alone _

_ With a shrill inner sound, _

_ Over the throne  _

_ In the midst of the hall; _

_ Til that great sea-snake under the sea  _

_ From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps _

_ Would slowly trail himself sevenfold _

_ Rould the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate _

_ With his large calm eyes for the love of me.  _

_ And all the mermen under the sea _

_ Would feel their immortality _

_ Die in their hearts for the love of me. _

 

_ — The Mermaid II ; Alfred, Lord Tennyson _   
  


 

* * *

 

 

In all honesty, now that Kyungsoo is safely under his blankets and has the energy to think back upon his actions, he shouldn’t have gone up to The Surface. He shouldn’t have hid behind a rock that the sun wasn’t shining on, thereby enabling him to hide and  stalk look at TSP without being found. He shouldn’t have listened to his stupid gut in the first place, after moping in his room and letting his mind wander to the night he last saw the fireworks as well as the human boy...  _ whose name I still don’t know.  _

 

And it was precisely because of that fact did Kyungsoo got up and swam towards The Surface without hesitation. It was only when he found himself almost,  _ almost _ , staring into the eyes of the human boy did Kyungsoo belatedly discover how dumb this idea had been. Not only had he broken a rule his own father had set in place for the umpteenth time, he had also, for the first time, did something without planning. This was so spontaneous, so dangerous, so utterly risky for himself and his kind. 

 

If Kyungsoo hadn’t seen the subtle shift of the boy’s eyes towards his direction, the merboy would have been seen. There was no doubt about it, because even though Kyungsoo had dived back beneath the surface (loudly at that; there was definitely no doubt that the human would be staring at the rock he had hidden behind), he could feel the boy’s eyes. Not that the human had seen him (hopefully not  _ oh my god for the love of Poseidon please _ ), Kyungsoo had felt something… foreign but pleasant on his skin. 

 

Even now, as Kyungsoo burrows deeper within his blankets, he still feels it. Feels warmth spreading all over his body, with his chest attracting most of the heat and the youngest prince wants to rip his clothes off. Except that he’s not dressed at all. Mermen are practically naked, so, well, Kyungsoo can’t do anything to feel cooler. Perhaps he should go to the kitchens and demand for a bucket of ice, but what excuse could he give should the chefs ask? 

 

Ugh, dammit. Guess he has to settle for throwing his blankets off him. Not that it helps, much.

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Kyungsoo’s secret trips up to The Surface are mostly carried out at night now, having learnt his lesson that daytime increases the risk of being seen. The only thing that he’s sacrificing are several hours of his precious sleep, which he can do without anyway.  

 

Once Yifan swings by to grace his youngest son with his presence plus a fond kiss on his forehead and leaves for his own quarters, Kyungsoo quietly swims out of his bed and over to his balcony before hightailing out of there. Afraid of being caught by the Royal Guards on patrol around TOP’s perimeters, Kyungsoo kicks his tail as fast as he can. He doesn’t even wait for Baekhyun, who usually arrives at the rock (yeah,  _ that  _ rock which almost caused him to be seen by the human boy) seconds later and smacks the back of Kyungsoo’s head for abandoning him. 

 

Kyungsoo’s more often than not accompanied by his best friend, who insists that  _ I’m keeping you hidden from human eyes and to stop you from doing dumb things _ . Yeah right. Kyungsoo’s fairly certain his best friend just wants to feel like a thug, what with this rule breaking and late night secret stuff. 

 

Not every secret trip rewards Kyungsoo for his sacrifice, though. Sometimes he misjudges the time, swimming up to The Surface only to see that the lights that should be streaming out of the balcony has been switched off which probably meant that the human had gone to bed and that Kyungsoo won’t be seeing him for the night. Those nights make Kyungsoo terribly sad and disappointed, and Baekhyun would need to both comfort and keep him out of trouble’s sight since Kyungsoo’s so despondent he can hardly be stealthy enough to make it back to his bed without being caught. 

 

On trips that do reward Kyungsoo, he’d be greeted by lights streaming out onto TSP’s only balcony and a lone figure standing in the space with his forearms resting on the railing as he looks outward. The silvery light from the moon bathes the human boy — man? Kyungsoo has no idea how old he is but he does look as young as Kyungsoo is — and he looks simply ethereal. The human’s hair is still black, just as it had been five years ago, but under the moonlight it looks a little white. Kyungsoo likes it. 

 

Despite swishing his tail to stay afloat while his fingers grip onto the surface of the rock for an unknown amount of time, which sometimes results in painful tail cramps and cricky finger joints, Kyungsoo stays hidden and quiet. His eyes fixate upon the human’s face, squinting most of the time as Kyungsoo tries to memorise every line, every curve, and every feature of that handsome face. Occasionally, he lets out a dreamy sigh, prompting Baekhyun to prod and tease in a sing-song manner about how  _ Soo is such a sucker for the human prince ho ho ho will I hear wedding bells in the future– _

 

“The only bell you’ll be hearing,” Kyungsoo manhandles the fish into a headlock, but Baekhyun’s scales are slippery and he’s out of Kyungsoo’s arms in a heartbeat, his tongue sticking out in cheekiness. “Is your funeral bell.”

 

And that is how Kyungsoo spends his nights up at The Surface, leaving the rock once the human heads back inside TSP and the light disappears from the balcony. Most of the time Baekhyun ensures that Kyungsoo returns home safely and without getting into trouble but tonight, apparently, he’s not able to do so. 

 

“Would someone kindly tell me why my youngest son is breaking my rules and seems to have broken it more than once?” Yifan sternly asks, eyes sweeping across the three subjects floating before him. He’s standing at the door to his quarters, about to head to bed until he hears a sharp knock and finds himself looking down at his advisor, his youngest son, and his son’s best friend. 

 

Jongdae starts, “Sir, Kyungsoo seems to have–”

 

“Don’t tell him–” Baekhyun tries to cut in.

 

“–gotten himself smitten by the human prince!” Jongdae finishes, not bothering with the plea of the yellow fish. He moves his little legs and rests upon the King’s shoulders, eyes swiveling upwards to look up at Yifan’s impressive scowl. “I’ve been following them for a couple of nights now, and that’s what young Byun has been teasing Youngest Prince about.” 

 

Yifan shifts his heated gaze to Kyungsoo. “Is that so,  _ Do Kyungsoo _ ?”

 

Kyungsoo flinches. Now he’s gone and done it. His father must be really angry, having called his full name instead of the usual endearment. 

 

“I asked a question, Kyungsoo.” 

 

“Y-Yes, Jongdae is–”

 

“To your room,” Yifan cuts in. “You’re grounded to the palace for the next two weeks and you’re not to have visitors–” He darts his eyes over to Baekhyun, who instantly cowers but nods at his King’s order. “–until your ban is lifted. Until then, you can only roam the halls of our home. You can’t even head out of the gates. Is that clear,” Yifan looks back at Kyungsoo, noticing how he’s trembling under his father’s wrath. Yifan suppresses a sigh, but softens his tone because he’s actually not that angered to begin with. He’s more annoyed with missing his bedtime. “Soo?” 

 

Kyungsoo nods curtly, then swims away, a barely muffled sniffle betraying his mood. Baekhyun makes a move to go after him but Jongdae immediately pinches his tail with a claw and Yifan requests for Jongdae to  _ bring the young Byun home _ . 

 

As the crab hauls a sulking yellow fish down the hallway and disappears from his sight, Yifan sighs for the second time and shuts his eyes in exasperation. His son might have fallen in love with a human. Brilliant.

 

Absolutely  _ brilliant _ . 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Chanyeol leans over the railing, propping his head up with his knuckles as he looks out at the sea, eyes twinkling as he takes in the shimmering reflection of the night sky on the surface of The Ocean. He unconsciously darts his eyes over a particular rock, staring at it until a squawk of a gull startles him and he jerks. 

 

“Why was I looking at that rock?” 

 

His brows furrow for a moment, before he shrugs the queerness off even as he can’t help but wonder about the weird bouts of warmth that wash over him come nights he steps onto his balcony and admires the sea. Chanyeol hasn’t felt it for a while now, though, a little over two weeks. He hopes to feel it again soon. It felt nice. Chanyeol likes it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos would be greatly appreciated! plus, comments won't hurt anyone! 
> 
> Be friends with me? [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) // [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits)


	4. Tail 4

_ But at night I would wander away, away, _

_ I would fling on each side my low-flowing locks, _

_ And lightly vault from the throne and play _

_ With the mermen in and out of the rocks; _

_ We would run to and fro, and hide and seek, _

_ On the broad sea-worlds in the crimson shells, _

_ Whose silvery spikes are nighest the sea. _

_ But if any came near I would call, and shriek, _

_ And adown the steep like a wave I would leap _

_ From the diamond-ledges that jut from the dells; _

_ For I would not be kissed by all who would list, _

_ Of the bold merry mermen under the sea; _

_ They would sue me, and woo me, and flatter me, _

_ In the purple twilights under the sea; _

_ But the king of them all would carry me, _

_ Woo me, and win me, and marry me, _

_ In the branching jaspers under the sea. _

 

_ — The Mermaid III ; Alfred, Lord Tennyson _

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

“I trust that you will not swim up to The Surface again, Soo,” Yifan sternly warns as he tucks his youngest son into bed even though Kyungsoo’s already seventeen-going-on-eighteen in a month. A beautiful smile slaps itself onto Kyungsoo’s face and he nods, before he closes those large eyes of his in preparation to head to dreamland. 

 

Kyungsoo smiles to himself when he feels a familiar pair of lips pressing softly onto his forehead, and he fondly wishes  _ goodnight father, sweet dreams  _ as he has always done ever since he could talk and his nanny taught him to say that when he was a wee lad at four. Yifan wishes back and Kyungsoo hears his father swimming out and his door close with a  _ creak _ . 

 

He gets out of bed. 

 

Minutes later, a wheezing Kyungsoo finds himself arrives at the rock and his fingers automatically find spaces to hang onto. Next to him, Baekhyun sniggers. “What took you so long, Youngest Prince?”

 

“I told you to stop calling me that!”

 

Baekhyun sticks out his tongue, but swiftly leans away when Kyungsoo makes a move to lunge at him with hands outstretched and fingers clawed. After making sure that his best friend no longer entertains thoughts of filleting him, Baekhyun swims back to his spot next to Kyungsoo, and murmurs, “I thought you wouldn’t be coming, thought you got caught by the guards or something.” 

 

Kyungsoo hums, “Almost. I saw Jongdae leaving the gates while I was swimming up here, so I hope he didn’t see me.” He reaches over to his friend and pats Baekhyun’s head. “Thanks for worrying, Baek.”

 

“Anytime,” Baekhyun grins, then smirks. “ _ Youngest Prince _ .” 

 

“Why you–”

 

“Ah, ah, ah,” A fin comes up in front of Kyungsoo’s face and droplets of seawater splashes up along with it. Kyungsoo scowls at the saltiness he tastes at the corners of his mouth. “I don’t want to hear it because we’re not here to quarrel so might I suggest you stop looking at me, and start looking at your human instead.” Baekhyun reasons, his fin pushing at Kyungsoo’s jaw to get him to turn his head towards TSP. 

 

Kyungsoo blows a raspberry, but allows Baekhyun to maneuver his head anyway. His eyes instantly know where to go, what or  _ who  _ to look for. The human prince is clearly awake, since the balcony is lit and the human is standing right where he always does. It seems as though the past month of Kyungsoo being unable to come up to The Surface never happened. The human doesn’t look like he’s aged, his face is still ever so good-looking, those ears are still so adorably pointy, and his hair is still a beautiful obsidian. Kyungsoo unconsciously sighs. 

 

And Baekhyun just says, “You’re so screwed, Soo. You’ve really fallen for that human.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


It was supposed to be like any other night. The night should have Chanyeol staring at the rock, waiting for the bout of warmth to hit him, only to be disappointed when it didn’t. It was supposed to be like that, like every other night for the past one month. 

 

But it isn’t. For when Chanyeol was about to head inside, an inexplicable wave of warmth suddenly washed over him and sheer delight erupted within his body. There it is. The familiar warmth from somewhere or  _ someone _ . Chanyeol doesn’t care. He just automatically smiles and darts his eyes towards the rock. The moon doesn’t cast its silvery light over that rock, so it’s with great dismay that Chanyeol can’t see anything in the darkness. 

 

He knows, though. Chanyeol knows for sure that something is hiding behind that rock. He really wants to find out but even as his curiosity is piqued and increasing with every night, Chanyeol knows better than to seek trouble. His entire being is already trouble, no need to find more. 

 

Oh well, he’s satisfied anyway. The warmth has returned, and so has Chanyeol’s smile. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Hey, Soo.” 

 

Kyungsoo stops, his shimmering green tail decreasing in speed to accommodate to his floating as he turns around. He sees his third eldest brother swimming towards him and waves in greeting when he draws near. “Yes, Sehun?” 

 

Sehun dips his head down towards Kyungsoo and whispers, “Heard that you’ve been disregarding dad’s rules again. Been going up to TSP, huh.” 

 

The smirk on his brother’s face annoys Kyungsoo, but he keeps his increasing annoyance in check even as the smirk on Sehun’s face grows. “How do you know about this? Who told you?” 

 

“No one,” Sehun shrugs, the smirk vanishing for a moment before it returns. “You’re my baby brother, so of course I know what you would do. Though this rule-breaking does seem rather out of your character, Soo.” 

 

Kyungsoo growls, and the low sound causes Sehun to laugh and ruffle the younger merman’s red hair. The seemingly belittling gesture makes Kyungsoo want to rip Sehun’s green hair off his scalp. He doesn’t, though, for he’s a prince and he has a cool and calm image to uphold. (Elder Brother Sehun can fuck his image up for all he wants. Kyungsoo doesn’t care.) “Don’t go round telling anyone, especially father and Jongdae.” And Kyungsoo wrenches Sehun’s hand out of his hair for emphasis that he means business. “Don’t, you hear me.” 

 

Sehun nods, and Kyungsoo relaxes for a moment before that infuriating smirk creeps onto his brother’s face again and Kyungsoo just wants to slap it off. God, his third brother is such a brat. Is Yifan sure Kyungsoo’s not older than this dude? 

 

“I won’t, I promise,” Sehun says. “But I’d like to offer you some advice, if you’d like to listen, Soo.” And the smirk disappears in favour of a smile. An even more infuriating smile. Kyungsoo can’t decide which one he likes more. Okay, no, he hates both. 

 

“I’m listening.” 

 

“Have you heard of sea witches?”

 

“Um,” Kyungsoo hesitates, then shakes his head. 

 

“Well, sea witches can come up with potions and basically anything that needs magic to be formed. For example, a love potion, or in your case I’d recommend a legs potion.” 

 

Kyungsoo slowly lets the information that Sehun’s bombarding him with sink into his mind. And after it has, he shrieks, “Wait! A legs potion!?” 

 

“Uh huh. If you want to meet a human, you’d need to have legs to walk on land, don’t you think? That tail of yours sure ain’t going to help you. Heck, it’s probably going to scare your human away,” Sehun prods Kyungsoo’s green tail and receives a prod in return on his own pink one. He contemplates prodding back but decides against it because  _ hello I’m already eighteen ain’t some small kid _ . (Oh for the love of Poseidon, who is this merman kidding.)

 

“Think about it, okay? And if you think you’re up for some adventure on land, head over to Yixing’s.” 

 

Kyungsoo nods, as though he understands, only to do a double take and yank Sehun, who had begun to swim towards the dining room for dinner, back towards himself. “Yixing? Yixing is a sea witch!?” 

 

Sehun arranges himself into a more comfortable position, eyes flitting downwards to see his wrist being held by Kyungsoo’s fingers. (Then he secretly relishes in this brotherly contact. Tell no one.) He looks back up at his brother’s expression of disbelief. “Of course he is. He may be our resident doctor but when I brought up the topic of sea witches back when I was twelve, Yixing confessed that he was one. Still  _ is  _ one, a sea wizard. I mean, you haven’t at all wondered how I suddenly got so good at math back in middle school?” 

 

Something dawns on Kyungsoo then, and after releasing his brother’s wrist from his grip and thanks him before sending him on his way for dinner (and telling him to tell his family to start eating without him), a bright grin spreads across his face. Sea witch, huh. Legs potion, huh. 

 

Mm, this changes everything. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ps, the poems are included for a reason! 
> 
> still promoting my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) and [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits) because I want to talk to more exo fans ;;;


	5. Tail 5

_ The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,  _

_ And round the pebbly beaches far and wide _

_ I heard the first wave of the rising tide _

_ Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep; _

_ A voice out of the silence of the deep, _

_ A sound mysteriously multiplied _

_ As of a cataract from the mountain’s side, _

_ Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep. _

_ So comes to us at times, from the unknown _

_ And inaccessible solitudes of being, _

_ The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul; _

_ And inspirations, that we deem our own, _

_ Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing _

_ Of things beyond our reason or control. _

 

_ — The Sound of the Sea ; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow _

  
  


* * *

 

 

“Are you really serious about this, Soo?” 

 

Kyungsoo lifts his head up, fiery red hair shifting along with his movement. He looks at Baekhyun for a second, but after realising that his best friend is frowning at him, he looks back down at his green tail instead. “Yeah, I am. Kind of.” 

 

Baekhyun stares at the top of Kyungsoo’s head before dropping his eyes to look at a shimmering green tail softly thumping against the wooden surface of Yixing’s porch. He sighs, then stops moving his fins altogether so that he can sink down to Kyungsoo’s eyelevel. “I’m not judging your decision. I’m just making sure that this is what you really want.” The fish shimmies closer to his friend’s bare torso and looks up, smiling when Kyungsoo’s large eyes willingly make contact with his own. “So you really want Yixing to make you a potion that will give you legs?” 

 

There is a brief flicker of uncertainty in Kyungsoo’s eyes, but it vanishes as quickly as it had flashed through and Baekhyun has his answer. Not bothering to wait for Kyungsoo to give him a verbal answer, Baekhyun nimbly darts away from the young prince and swims upwards to Yixing’s door. He knocks (or attempts to) whilst hollering for TOP’s resident doctor. Kyungsoo just lets Baekhyun do his thing while he continues to stay at his spot (like the prince he is). 

 

The door opens seconds later and Baekhyun is greeted by a sea creature with eight purple legs attached to a muscly human torso. (How does a sea wizard even get such defined muscles is beyond the comprehension of Baekhyun’s tiny and unexercised brain.) The face of the supposed sea wizard is rather dazed but at the sight of a yellow fish buzzing around the entrance to his humble abode, Yixing’s expression instantly brightens. “Hello, Baekhyun.” Then at Baekhyun’s gesture towards the floor of his porch, Yixing continues, “Hello, Youngest Prince.” 

 

Kyungsoo groans, and a hand immediately flies up to give a smack to his sniggering best friend. He picks himself up and returns the greeting to Yixing who invites the pair inside. Uncountable numbers of jars and knick knacks fill the vision of Kyungsoo as he swims deeper and deeper into Yixing’s home, eyes flitting around wildly to take in the strange things placed on numerous shelves. While he had been expecting eyeballs or mutilated tails and whatnots in the glass jars and cauldrons (no thanks to Second Eldest Brother’s horror stories during childhood; Kyungsoo is going to give Lu Han a punch that will make his cheek as pink as his hair), there are none of those at all. All he sees are various thingamabobs and other stuff that he doesn’t recognise and  _ oh is that a silver fork _ –

 

“So how may I help you today, Youngest Prince?” 

 

Yixing’s gentle voice stops Kyungsoo in his tracks, eyes darting over to the sea wizard’s confused ones and the merman immediately snaps his arm back to his side. He ignores Baekhyun’s muffled guffaw and Yixing’s even-more-confused expression to clear his throat and reply, “Um, I heard from my brother that you’re a sea wizard?” 

 

The confused look on Yixing’s face clears and a serious expression that only appears whenever he has a patient to diagnose replaces it. “Yes, I am.” Yixing brings himself to full height and Kyungsoo never realises that the doctor-slash-wizard is actually pretty tall (well, half a head taller than himself anyway). The prince feels pretty small right now, and he finds himself cowering when he meets Yixing’s pointed gaze. “Is there anything that you require of me, Do Kyungsoo?” 

 

Since Kyungsoo associates people calling his full name to the possibility of him being reprimanded or looked down upon, he would feel guilty and attacked, and would unconsciously close himself off to his surroundings. He wouldn’t reply nor give any sign that he’s listening. The current situation is no exception, as Kyungsoo suddenly hangs his head and brings his arms around himself. He becomes so still that the only part of him moving is his tail, gently fluttering to keep its owner afloat. 

 

The sight of his Youngest Prince curling in upon himself scares Yixing and his serious demeanour instantly disappears. He’s about to step forward to rouse Kyungsoo out of whatever he’s gotten himself into when a flash of yellow materialises beside the merman and Yixing can’t help but snap his eyes towards the bright colour. 

 

“He needs a potion that would allow him to have legs,” Baekhyun explains. “And I apologise on behalf of my friend but he tends to shut down whenever someone calls him by his full name because that’s what his father always does when he scolds him so, do give him some time to come out of it.” And Baekhyun shoots Yixing a fishy smile. 

 

“Ah,” Yixing nods, going back to his original position. He casts a thoughtful glance at the merman before letting a small understanding smile spread across his face. “I understand, and don’t worry about the potion. I’ll have it ready as soon as possible.”  

 

Baekhyun flaps a fin in acknowledgment and begins to steer an immobile Kyungsoo back towards the door only to stop and shriek in shock when the statuesque prince suddenly lifts his head up and says, “Thank you, Yixing.” 

 

Needless to say, the doctor-slash-wizard had shrieked in shock too. In fact, Yixing had stumbled on his eight legs and fell backwards. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun immediately dash forward to help Yixing up, though Baekhyun can’t do anything with those small fins of his. After ensuring that his legs are no longer tangled up, Kyungsoo releases Yixing’s arms and once again thanks him for his help. 

 

“You’re most welcome, Young–”

 

“Kyungsoo.  _ Please  _ call me Kyungsoo.” 

 

Yixing chuckles. “Alright,  _ Kyungsoo _ . I’m more than happy to help you out, but I suppose I have to keep this little request to myself…?” He gives Kyungsoo a pointed look and receives a curt nod. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone about this, not even your father. Don’t worry, young one.” And he reaches out to tousle a bed of red hair. 

 

Just as the pair of best friends are about to step out of his home, Yixing calls out after them. “Mind telling Sehun to come over and fetch his own potion? His bulk order of math potions are ready!” 

 

Kyungsoo yells back an  _ okay  _ before gently shutting the door behind him. He whirls around and a flurry of movement he thinks he has seen from the corners of his eyes catches his attention. He snaps his head in that direction and briefly notices a flash of a red shell…?

 

_ Strange. Only Jongdae has a shell in that colour though but could it be him?  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


It’s a week later does Kyungsoo receive his requested potion, but he almost breaks it due to his haphazard catching skill and his third brother’s horrible throwing. “Phew, thank Poseidon you caught it,” Sehun whoops as he gently places the box containing his own secret order of math potions from Yixing onto Kyungsoo’s bed. He sits down next to it. “If you hadn’t, I reckon Yixing might throw a fit at having to make more for you.” 

 

Kyungsoo shoots his brother a glare, to which Sehun lifts up his hands in mock surrender, and scoffs, “I’d snitch on you and you’d bear the brunt instead. Besides, if this goes well, I’m planning to request more from Yixing.” Kyungsoo stares inquisitively at the small vial he’s holding oh-so-preciously between his fingers. The liquid within is a delicious off-white colour which reminds Kyungsoo of his favourite soup, clam chowder, so there probably won’t be any difficulty in downing this little amount in one shot. Added bonus if it actually  _ tastes  _ like clam chowder, and,  _ oh _ , Kyungsoo could have Yixing do that for him.  

 

“It’ll work, trust me,” Sehun says, as he hefts up the box and swims towards Kyungsoo’s room door. The frown on his younger brother’s face tells him that he’s overstayed his welcome, plus he might or might not have incurred more anger by putting his potions on Kyungsoo’s bed. The Youngest Prince  _ might  _ have Second Brother Lu Han’s OCD tendencies, which Sehun has discovered the hard way. Oh for the love of Poseidon, why would any sane merman keep electric eels in a tank as pets? Sehun will never understand. 

 

The frown on Kyungsoo’s face deepens after taking one look at his elder brother’s face. The infuriating smirk is back. Ugh,  _ Poseidon help me _ . He reels in his growing irritation to placatingly say, “I hope it does.” Then he barks, “Now  _ get out _ .” 

 

The smirk sliding off of Sehun’s face as the door is slammed in his face is the best thing Kyungsoo’s seen all day. (Besides his potion, of course.) 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Why do I have to drink this here, Baekhyun? Would you mind enlightening me your  _ weird  _ logic?” Kyungsoo deadpans, his narrowed eyes shifting from his potion to his best friend’s gleeful ones. There’s too much delight in those eyes, too much cheekiness in them, too much  _ oh I love to see my dear Soo-Soo suffer _ . Kyungsoo feels that he should either be afraid or throw the fish over the edge of the world. 

 

“Because if you drink it here, right by the rock, grow legs and walk out onto the beach and into the sunlight, chances are that the human might see you from the balcony,” Baekhyun says, his tone painfully reminding Kyungsoo of their teachers at school, of how they drawl on and on without giving a damn as to whether their students are still awake or dead to the world. As expected of a prince, Kyungsoo is the former while Baekhyun,  _ psh _ , is of course the latter. Also, the condescending way the fish is looking at Kyungsoo doesn’t help the merman in remembering that he’s talking to his  _ best friend  _ and not his  _ teacher _ . 

 

“Also, have you no brains, Kyungsoo? If you had drunk it underwater, you wouldn’t be able to swim up to The Surface because you sure as hell won’t know how to swim with human legs and as much as I don’t like to say this, Baekkie here is too small and weak to haul you all the way up here.” 

 

In his mind, Kyungsoo is repeatedly reminding himself that  _ Byun Baekhyun is my friend not my teacher not my enemy not the fish I would like to fillet right now for talking to me as though I’m a wee lad with no common sense and I am not going to throw him off the end of the world nope I’m not– _

 

“Are you listening to me, Kyungsoo?” 

 

_ –I AM GOING TO FILLET THIS FISH–  _ “Yes, I was listening,  _ Mister Byun _ .” 

 

Baekhyun scoffs loudly, clearly not believing his friend’s words but whatever, he doesn’t have time to spend on bickering. He’d rather use the time to laugh at Kyungsoo when he sprouts legs and fails at walking or fails at everything human. Oh what a wonderful spectacle that would be. Baekhyun can’t wait. 

 

“Hurry up and drink the potion already! Quickly!” He rushes Kyungsoo, fins splashing water at the merman who instinctively protects his precious little vial from the sudden onslaught. Kyungsoo doesn’t know what he has done in his past life to  _ deserve _ such a friend. He probably had offended Poseidon. Yeah, that must be it. 

 

He sighs, but follows Baekhyun’s words anyway once seawater stops getting onto his body and Kyungsoo carefully brings the vial out of hiding. He uncorks it and stares at the liquid.  _ Clam chowder _ , Kyungsoo mentally chants to himself,  _ it’s clam chowder, clam chowder, clam– _

 

“Oh for the love of Poseidon.” 

 

Barely after hearing Baekhyun speak, Kyungsoo finds the rim of the vial pressed to his lips and his throat gulping down its contents without his mind giving the order to. The aftertaste of Yixing’s legs potion permeates within his mouth and  _ oh gosh _ . The potion does taste like clam chowder. Kyungsoo is impressed. (And Yixing the sea wizard has earned himself another loyal customer.)

 

“H-How… How do you feel, Soo?” Baekhyun gingerly asks, his cautious tone showing how he knows that he’s in trouble for forcing Kyungsoo to drink the potion without warning him. But Kyungsoo isn’t concerned about that, though. He’s more concerned about whether the potion had worked and judging from the fact that he still has his pretty green tail instead of legs, it didn’t work. 

 

Kyungsoo wants to cry, wants to let out a wail of frustration.  _ It didn’t work it didn’t work it didn’t work!  _ He petulantly kicks up seawater, not caring that he’s bearing the consequences of his own actions while Baekhyun sadly looks on from the side. As much as he wants to comfort his best friend, Baekhyun also very much doesn’t want to get in the way of Kyungsoo’s powerful tail. 

 

Just then, Kyungsoo does let out a wail. But it’s not out of frustration. It’s out of shock. For his tail is suddenly enveloped in a bright blue glow that lasts for a few seconds and when it gradually vanishes, Kyungsoo’s tail is no more. Instead, a pair of unfamiliar legs stare back at him. 

 

Oh gosh. Oh gosh.  _ Oh gosh I have legs! I have legs! I have– _

 

But when Kyungsoo turns to Baekhyun, mouth open and ready to scream his happiness at his friend, he realises something dreadful. 

 

“Soo… Your voice,” Baekhyun gasps, fins coming up to cover his fishy lips. His eyes are blown wide and the fear in Kyungsoo’s own is mirrored in Baekhyun’s as well. “Your voice is gone. You can’t talk.  _ You can’t talk! _ ” 

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head in response, hoping that Baekhyun will be able to understand his thoughts. He tries to speak again but no sounds come out of his mouth. Is this a side effect of Yixing’s potion? In exchange for the legs he has to give up his voice? 

 

“It could be a side effect,” Baekhyun guesses. He swims closer to Kyungsoo, hoping that the close proximity will calm his friend down because he knows that this is a lot to take in. Heck, Baekhyun’s so frightened he might pee right now. (Not that anyone will know.)  “I-I’ll go t-to Yixing and question him. As for you, you can either stay here or be adventurous and head out to wait for the human to find you,” He looks up at Kyungsoo’s eyes, heart clenching when he sees the genuine fear swirling within. Baekhyun’s about to go hysterical; how Kyungsoo isn’t thrashing in insanity is beyond his capability to comprehend. But then again, his best friend always has been the more mature one between them. “It’s your choice, Soo.” 

 

Kyungsoo lets his eyelids flutter shut, exhaustion suddenly washing over him. He wasn’t expecting this. He had been expecting to grow legs, yes, but he thought he’d still have his voice with him; he wanted to be able to  _ say words  _ to the human in their first encounter. Kyungsoo guesses that that’s not going to happen. 

 

But he still wants to meet the human, because there’s one thing that he’s been wanting to know for so long, for  _ five years  _ he’s been waiting for this day, this chance. And even though he has no voice, he will find a way. Kyungsoo will find a way to know the human’s name. 

 

And that is why he begins to walk towards the shore, his eyes no longer reflecting the fear he still feels but there is excitement thrumming in his body. He hears Baekhyun call out to him and turns around. “Good luck, Soo!” His friend wishes before disappearing beneath the waves, no doubt rushing to Yixing to get answers. 

 

Kyungsoo smiles, then directs his gaze to the balcony. He inhales.  _ Let’s do this.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo's w mag video rendered me so breathless someone save me from that dude ;;; (okay no don't i don't need saving just let me drown)


	6. Tail 6

_ I started early, took my dog, _

_ And visited the sea – _

_ The Mermaids in the basement _

_ Came out to look at me, _

 

_ And Frigates in the upper floor _

_ Extended hempen hands – _

_ Presuming me to be a mouse _

_ Aground, upon the sands. _

 

_ But no man moved me til the Tide _

_ Went past my simple shoe, _

_ And past my apron and my belt _

_ And past my bodice too – _

 

_ And made as he would eat me up _

_ As wholly as a dew _

_ Upon a dandelion’s sleeve – _

_ And then I started too. _

 

_ And he – he followed close behind – _

_ I felt his silver heel _

_ Upon my ankle – then my shoes _

_ Would overflow with pearl. _

 

_ Until we met the solid town, _

_ No man he seemed to know – _

_ And bowing with a mighty look _

_ At me, the Sea withdrew. _

 

_ — “I Started Early” ; Emily Dickinson _

 

 

* * *

  
  


Chanyeol yawns, tears from his yawn blurring his sight of the book in front of him. He props his elbows on the opened pages as his hands reach up to his closed eyes to press the heels of his palms against them. He’s been reading a book, given by his father, about storms for the past hour or so and the words are starting to merge together to form squiggly lines instead. Chanyeol has promised his father that he would complete the book before night comes but he knows that if he doesn’t take a break, he’s going to go bonkers. 

 

With his eyes still closed, Chanyeol turns his head towards the balcony in a swift motion. He doesn’t need to open his eyes to know which direction to face; he’s had so much practice from over the years. Plus, he gets a salty whiff of the sea whenever he allows himself to be distracted by turning towards the big blue so there’s no way Chanyeol can get the answer wrong if he lets his nose be the guide as well. And he doesn’t. 

 

The bright sky greets Chanyeol’s eyes the moment they slowly flutter open, and the prince flinches away from the sudden invasion of light into his eyes. Squinting, he uses the back of his knees to push his chair backwards until there is enough space for him to stand, and Chanyeol leaves his study table to walk towards the balcony. He suddenly stops and whirls around to glance at his book as if it had called out to him, but Chanyeol just shrugs and resumes his stroll. Book be damned, the Prince needs to retain his sanity.

 

A noisy inhale breaks the tranquility of TSP’s only balcony the moment Chanyeol steps onto it, as he throws his arms wide open and puffs his chest out. The wondrous scent of the salty waters invade his nostrils and instantly relaxes Chanyeol, who automatically strides towards the railing and leans against it. And of course, his eyes immediately subconsciously dart towards the all-too-familiar rock... 

 

Before bulging and almost popping out of their sockets for– 

 

_ There is someone at the rock.  _

 

Chanyeol shuts his eyes and opens them.

 

_ There is someone at the rock. _

 

Chanyeol does it again, and again. He squints.

 

_ There is  _ still _ someone at the rock.  _

 

For the love of Poseidon.

 

Trying to get a better look at that person, Chanyeol instinctively leans forward, his torso extending beyond the railing. He forgets that he probably descends from a bloodline of giants and almost falls to his death, legs flailing helplessly in mid-air while he tries to tilt himself back towards the balcony. If not for his fingers’ strong grip on the railing, Chanyeol will find his body pierced in numerous places by the sharp, jagged rocks situated just below his extra piece of room space. He stares at them dumbly for a few moments, then shudders. Thanks, Poseidon. Thank you. 

 

To prevent further idiocy, Chanyeol decides to drop to the floor and jam his head between the bars of the railing. He tries to squeeze his head between two metal sticks as far as he can while his eyes continue to squint and get a clearer view of the mysterious person seated at the rock which usually doesn’t get any action at all. 

 

The balcony is too far from the rock, and Chanyeol can’t properly make out the features of the person’s face but Chanyeol manages to see that the person is hugging his (yeah, Chanyeol can at least tell that it’s a male, probably) legs and has his chin on his knees. Also, unless Chanyeol has gone blind or colorblind, there’s no way he can miss the colour of the person’s hair. 

 

The mess of red is so pretty, and under the afternoon sunlight it reminds Chanyeol of a burning fire. He inexplicably likes it. He likes it a lot, and he doesn’t know why. He just– Chanyeol  _ just  _ likes it. 

 

And he’s out of his room in seconds, mouth opening to yell for his dog as Chanyeol excitedly scampers towards the only exit in his home that leads to the shore. There’s  _ finally  _ someone at the rock. There is no way in the seven seas Chanyeol is not going to do anything. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Kyungsoo stares at the ten (he counted) little stubs attached to his feet. He has no idea what those tiny things are called, since his learning about the human anatomy is limited to only the basics of the basics of the  _ really  _ basics; it’s a wonder he even knows what legs are since merpeople never have them. Kyungsoo reminds himself to thank Baekhyun for supplying him with this snippet, and to ask him for more anatomy names. (How Baekhyun get these information is something Kyungsoo will never want to find out because if the name  _ Byun Baekhyun  _ is any indication, the method of discovering these stuff is probably illegal.) 

 

He wriggles all ten of those tiny things, delighting in the foreign but strangely pleasant feeling of having more than just his tail to wiggle (he now has nine and more body parts in fact). The spaces between the stubs catch the uncountable amount of sand and Kyungsoo’s amusement is piqued as he stares, mesmerized in awe, at the grains sliding and falling back down to the sandy shore. The merman — or  _ human _ , now — is also in wonder at the pair of…  _ um, what are these called again– oh yes  _ shorts that is hugging his hips and the hem ends just above his knees. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how he has this pair of garment on him when he’s so certain he wasn’t wearing anything before but he supposes that Yixing’s potion must have conjured it out of nowhere for him. There are no complaints about it, though, because it covers the…  _ thing  _ swinging between his legs that Kyungsoo saw when he had first decided to get rid of the shorts by pulling it down. 

 

The breeze that assaulted his  _ thing  _ proved to Kyungsoo that perhaps it ought to be covered and shielded from both nature and humans. He most certainly don’t see the human prince strutting around naked. So yes, he’s going to keep his shorts on. (Also, it’s the same shade of green as his tail so Kyungsoo has no complaints at all.) 

 

Kyungsoo is so enraptured by his new legs and the delightful sensations that had come with them that he doesn’t sense an intruder bounding up to him until it’s too late and the prince from The Ocean gets himself a faceful of some wet stuff and a kneeful of a creature he has only seen a couple of times.

 

The sudden attack leaves Kyungsoo breathless and the last thing he sees before he blacks out is the image of a figure heading towards him. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


In all honesty, Chanyeol hadn’t expected Jongin to jump onto the person because his dog is the epitome of a dog with absolutely no sense of dogginess in him. To put it in a more specific and simpler manner, Jongin is a golden retriever but he sure as hell doesn’t behave like one. While other dogs that Chanyeol has seen during his trips to the town situated at the foot of his home are friendly and bubbly and dashes about everywhere, Jongin is asocial and silent and only walks within the four walls of his own room. (Yes, the goldie has his own room. Don’t ask why but the Parks are weird like that  _ I mean come on if you know you’re due to give birth why the fuck would you want to take a boat out to sea to admire the blue when you can do so from the balcony _ .)

 

Jongin has never, not once, expressed any form of interest in anyone except Chanyeol whom he, also, on bad days, sometimes ignore. And he sleeps a lot. Like, really,  _ a whole fucking lot  _ and Chanyeol doesn’t understand how the adorable and bouncy puppy he had adopted from the town shelter when he was fourteen had become this lazy dog four years on. 

 

But the dog that had leapt onto the person most definitely did not look lazy. In fact, Jongin had jumped from about a metre and a half away and in terms of the goldie’s records, it’s a world record. And seeing how the (poor) dude has slobber all over his face, Chanyeol can safely deduce that Jongin is damn interested in him. Chanyeol feels a little jealous of the person, at how he has managed to garner the attention of his dog on their first encounter, but it fades away the moment he realises that the person is unconscious. 

 

“Oh shit,” Chanyeol curses and he steps forward, hands shooing a whining Jongin away. The person hasn’t toppled sideways, his back still leaning against the rock. Only his head is tilted to a side while his eyes are closed and if Chanyeol hadn’t seen how the person had ruffled his red hair seconds before he runs out of his room, the prince would have thought that the dude had fallen asleep. Which could be the case because when Chanyeol edges his face towards the unconscious person, he hears faint snoring, and chuckles silently to himself. 

 

He doesn’t want to wake the person up, and makes sure that Jongin gets the message as well because judging by how the goldie has been discreetly shifting himself towards the redhead, Chanyeol knows that Jongin is going to leap again. So Chanyeol manhandles the dog away and forces him to  _ sit and stay  _ a short distance away. He tears his eyes away from the puppy look that he hasn’t seen from Jongin in the longest time to prevent himself from giving in. 

 

Chanyeol makes himself comfortable by sitting cross-legged on the sand (never mind that he can already feel grains sliding into his pants) right in front of the person. He immediately gets attracted by the bed of red hair on the head, confirming that he is the one Chanyeol had saw from his balcony and as his eyes slowly slide down his face, he notices a peculiarity about the person’s facial features. There’s a heart at where his lips ought to be. 

 

His eyes unconsciously follow the lines of the person’s lips to form the shape and when he completes it, Chanyeol finds himself staring right at the plump heart-shaped mouth, torso having leaned forward to shorten the distance between them. Small puffs of warm air graze his forehead, startling Chanyeol and in his haste to recreate the distance again, he clumsily ends up kicking a wave of sand at him. So now not only is Jongin’s slobber still on his face, there’s sand on him as well. 

 

Great. What a very Chanyeol-way to leave a wonderful first impression. 

 

As much as Chanyeol wants to just escape and pretend that he has never seen or done anything to this person, the innate prince in him doesn’t allow him to. Which is why he is on the way back home with a half-naked unconscious young man hauled over his shoulder and a suddenly-no-longer-lazy golden retriever bounding all around him. Chanyeol wishes he had gone back to his study table when the book called out to him, but of course, as much as he wants to regret not doing so, Chanyeol realises that there is hardly any at all. 

 

If anything, there are bubbles of excitement stirring within the pit of his stomach and the last time he had felt something similar to this feeling was when he received his first tail more than a decade ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jen wishes that she could be a more cool and collected writer but — CHANSOO FINALLY MEET GAHHHHHHH ASDKSAJFJDSLF — no she can't


	7. Tail 7

_ What shall we do with a drunken sailor, _

_ What shall we do with a drunken sailor, _

_ What shall we do with a drunken sailor, _

_ Early in the morning? _

_ Way-aye, there she rises, _

_ Way-aye, there she rises, _

_ Way-aye, there she rises, _

_ Early in the morning! _

 

_ Chuck him in the long-boat till he gets sober, _

_ Chuck him in the long-boat till he gets sober, _

_ Chuck him in the long-boat till he gets sober, _

_ Early in the morning! _

_ Way-aye, there she rises, _

_ Way-aye, there she rises, _

_ Way-aye, there she rises, _

_ Early in the morning! _

 

_ — Drunken Sailor ; Anonymous _

  
  


* * *

  
  


The first thing Kyungsoo does, when he wakes up and finds himself in a room that sure as Davy Jones’ locker not his, is scream. Or tries to. He stops and shuts his mouth the instant he remembers that he has no voice, but the roughness and slight pain in his throat tells him that he might as well have already screamed his lungs out even if there is no sound. 

 

The second thing Kyungsoo does, when he sits up and scratch the itch on his back, is claw at the foreign thing on his body. It’s a shirt. Mermen have never and  _ will never  _ wear such things so Kyungsoo is certain that this is not his which prompts him to think  _ whose is this where did it come from  _ and  _ WHO WORE IT FOR ME?!  _

 

The third thing Kyungsoo does, after throwing back the blanket on him and sighing in relief upon seeing the same pair of green shorts still hugging his hips before darting his eyes upwards to see another pair staring back at him, is kick. He slides his legs out from under the creature, belatedly realising that it’s  _ furry  _ (but felt rather nice against his exposed skin), and kicks hard at it. He hears a loud whimper, sees it jumping off the bed (that he also  _ just  _ discovers that he had been sitting on from the start), before barking at the top of its voice. It’s so loud, Kyungsoo quickly covers his ears with his hands and squeezes his eyes tight, like how he always does whenever the pulsing sounds of a passing pod of whales reverberate throughout TOP and frightens him. He has never grown out of his fear. 

 

The loss of both sight and hearing leaves Kyungsoo vulnerable, especially since he’s in a foreign environment but the creature’s incessant barking really grates on Kyungsoo’s nerves and painfully reminds him of loud whale sounds. The loss of the two senses also causes Kyungsoo to not be able to see or hear someone approaching, and he jumps at the slightest touch against his body, shocked at the contact made on his shoulder. He flinches away and realises that he ought to open his eyes to see who is touching him but the barking is still there and Kyungsoo’s nightmare is still happening. 

 

A few moments later, the barking abruptly stops and his ears gratefully welcome back the silence from before. Kyungsoo deems the tranquility safe, and he removes his hands from his ears and gingerly opens his eyes. 

 

The next thing Kyungsoo does, when he registers the identity of the person sitting next to him, is gasp loudly. Or tries to. Even though Kyungsoo knows that he’s voiceless, he doesn’t drop his hands from his gaping mouth, nor does he decrease the size of his widened eyes. He just stares, and stares, and stares. Then ever so slowly, he drags his field of vision upwards and is greeted by a bed of jetblack hair. 

 

Oh gosh. Oh Poseidon. It’s him. 

 

_ It’s him.  _

 

And amidst Kyungsoo’s staring, he barely notices a hand appearing between their bodies and only faintly hears  _ him  _ saying something that sounded like–

 

“Hello! I’m Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


When Chanyeol had stepped back from his bed, after cleaning Jongin’s drool from the redhead’s face and dusting the sand off of him, he knew that he shouldn’t have brought him back. Because in hindsight, now that Chanyeol has calmed down enough to think things through, he realises that he had just carried a total stranger into his home, into his own room, and laid him on his own bed. 

 

He knows nothing about this person, doesn’t know if he’s good or bad. All Chanyeol knows that he was the guy seated at the rock which usually doesn’t have anyone sitting near it. This reason itself doesn’t suffice nor aid him in deciding whether he had invited trouble or not. Chanyeol goes with his gut feeling though and makes up his mind that  _ no, he’s a good dude and will not create trouble for me _ . 

 

And for once, his gut isn’t wrong. 

 

(In his gut’s defense, it’s not that it is  _ always  _ causing him to make incorrect decisions that usually end up with his head on the chopping block or in situations similar to that deathly consequence. There are just times where things don’t happen as you’ve expected them to.)

 

Kyungsoo — the redhead’s name, which Chanyeol got him to write on a piece of paper after going through several exaggerated motions of a guessing game and arriving at the correct answer of him being unable to speak — is an angel. Throughout the duration of bringing him down to the town, since Chanyeol’s afraid of showing him to his father and sister when he knows nothing about this stranger, not once does Kyungsoo misbehave. He sticks himself to Chanyeol’s side, those large eyes of his looking everywhere while his head turns in all directions as though he hasn’t seen anything like a town before. 

 

And Kyungsoo’s seemingly honest answer of a shy nod when Chanyeol asks shouldn’t have surprised him because the boy does look like he’s not from around these parts, as though he had been washed up ashore after drifting at sea or something. Plus, the people around here never have such brightly-coloured hair, so it’s no wonder Chanyeol finds himself fending off more curious onlookers than he had done the last time he went into town with his father. 

 

If anything, the fact that Kyungsoo is so unstable on his feet, constantly tripping every ten steps or so and needing Chanyeol to wrap a protective arm around his thin waist, should have rang the warning bells in the prince’s head but he thinks nothing of it, just continues to guide Kyungsoo through the bustling town and smiling at the genuine awe reflected in those big beautiful eyes. 

 

Chanyeol likes them, likes how they shine in the bright afternoon sun when the rays hit upon Kyungsoo’s laughing countenance when Chanyeol surprises him with a piece of fish-shaped bread filled with red bean paste. He even likes them when tears brim and threaten to spill over as Kyungsoo bids a teary goodbye just before sunset, stubbornly refusing Chanyeol’s offer of crashing at his place for the night. 

 

And as Chanyeol watches Kyungsoo stumble his way towards the beach, still tripping over his feet, he finds himself wondering about the boy’s home. Could he be staying at the beach? Is he going to pitch a tent? Numerous questions bombard Chanyeol’s mind until he decides to run after Kyungsoo but in the descending darkness, he doesn’t see that mess of fiery red that attracted his attention in the first place. He searches the shore, even goes to the rock with high hopes, but he comes up with nothing. 

 

Kyungsoo has vanished, and the only thing Chanyeol thinks in response is  _ will he return?  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Thank goodness you returned before the sun sets,” is the first thing Baekhyun says after Kyungsoo swims through the opened doors of his balcony and collapses on the bed. The prince opens a bleary eye and looks at Baekhyun. The worried expression on his best friend’s face is a rare sight, but Kyungsoo would be lying if he says he doesn’t feel warm all over knowing that the yellow fish could have been worried about him. 

 

He doesn’t resist smiling. “Thank you for worrying about me, Baek.” Kyungsoo opens the other eye and lets his smile grow wider. “But I’m back. You can stop worrying now because that expression doesn’t suit you.” 

 

Baekhyun feebly slaps away the hand that Kyungsoo reaches out to him, no doubt wanting to inflict some form of violent affection which usually results his cheeks hurting for days. Kyungsoo frowns at the rejection but the corners of his lips gradually neutralize into a straight line when he sees the worried expression still etched on Baekhyun’s face. The alarm in his head blares. 

 

“Baekhyun… what’s going on...?” 

 

“You’ve been on land for a little more than half a day today,” Baekhyun says, tongue peeking out between his fish lips to wet them because even though they’re underwater, the ocean doesn’t help in moisturizing anything. “Did you… like it up there?” 

 

Kyungsoo would have embarked on an enthusiastic retelling of whatever happened today to Baekhyun if not for the cautious tone he hears in his best friend’s words. The alarm in his head continues to blare and Kyungsoo knows that he might be stepping on thin ice here, his reply determining whether he stays dry or plunges into the waters below. But since the merman is already literally wet, he wings it. 

 

“I did, Baek. I really like it up there.” 

 

And after Kyungsoo sits up, folding his green tail beneath him, the pair of best friends stare at each other. Kyungsoo gazes into Baekhyun’s eyes and tries to find answers for his queer behaviour but there’s nothing. Baekhyun just looks worried and shows that he is concerned about something that he’s not telling Kyungsoo. The staredown drags, neither sea dweller backing down, until something that Kyungsoo should have expected from the start happens. 

 

“I fucking knew that you wouldn’t be worried about me.” is what the merman spits out with a murderous glare when Baekhyun bursts out into laughter and hiccups while saying, “Oh my gosh  _ do you know how your face looked the entire time it’s so hilarious! _ ” 

 

Kyungsoo is not amused and he makes it known by shooting the still-laughing Baekhyun his best  _ you-are-on-the-verge-of-being-filleted  _ look. He’s about to whip out the fruit knife he keeps under his pillow when Baekhyun abruptly stops laughing and instead turns to him with a soft smile that forces Kyungsoo’s body to feel warm with the friendly affection conveyed. 

 

“I  _ was  _ worried about you, doofus. You’ll never know how frightened I was after you drank the potion and lost your voice and we knew nothing about its side effects and I–” The smile on Baekhyun’s face drops slightly. “–I was  _ so fucking afraid Soo.  _ I really was.” He swims a little closer to Kyungsoo. “But now that I’ve gone and consulted Yixing about the potion, I’m not that worried anymore.” 

 

“You sure?” 

 

“Uh huh. Now, do you want to know what the legs potion does to you?” 

 

The bright smile that Kyungsoo gives Baekhyun is his answer. 

 

(Also, the prince does not have a fruit knife hidden under his pillow. He wishes his father allows him to stash one though.) 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i need more chansoo fics to read; any suggestions? 
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) and [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits)


	8. Tail 8

_And as the smart ship grew_

_In stature, grace, and hue,_

_In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too._

 

_— The Convergence of the Twain, Lines on the loss of the “Titanic” VIII ; Thomas Hardy_

 

* * *

 

 

“Kyungsoo, please stick to me, alright? I don’t want you getting lost again!”

 

At Chanyeol’s warning, Kyungsoo tilts his head up slightly to find his tall friend looking down at him. The expression on his face is that of worry and Kyungsoo inexplicably feels guilty. It’s technically not his fault that he loses sight of Chanyeol every single time in TSP while en route to Chanyeol’s room. There are just too many turns and identical hallways! Even the carpeted flooring is the same everywhere! Kyungsoo simply just can’t navigate. Plus, he’s _walking_. The poor merman still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of moving around with his legs just yet. Of course, he doubts that he won’t get lost even if he was swimming with his tail.

 

Kyungsoo nods, though, not wanting Chanyeol’s face to show his worry any longer. The expression doesn’t suit his face. He bristles slightly when Chanyeol’s hand comes up to tousle his red tresses because Kyungsoo’s actually pretty against anyone touching him but he’s discovered, in the week of knowing his tall friend, that Chanyeol’s the opposite — he’s super touchy. It’s as though the human survives by being in contact with another, probably going to die off if he doesn’t touch anyone every five minutes or something.

 

(This behaviour reminds Kyungsoo of his second brother Lu Han who, despite his OCD tendencies, loves to cuddle with his brothers on the shell couch and in _their_ beds. More often than not, Sehun and Kyungsoo are his targets, since they’re younger and easier to threaten than Eldest Brother Minseok who entertains none of his younger brother’s antics.)

 

“Okay, follow me then!” Chanyeol chirps, the worried expression dissolving instantly and an all-familiar smile blossoms on his face. The happy look is contagious, but barely a second later, Chanyeol’s setting off. He misses Kyungsoo’s smile, and Kyungsoo misses the chance to grab onto the hem of Chanyeol’s shirt, an idea Baekhyun had thought up for him after he shared about getting lost. He doesn’t mind too much about that, though, and quickly scampers after Chanyeol.

 

As with each time Kyungsoo trails behind his long-legged friend, be it in TSP or the beach or in town, he wonders if Yixing will be able to make his legs grow longer because even after catching up to Chanyeol, Kyungsoo will somehow find himself lagging behind again. For every step of Chanyeol’s, Kyungsoo has to take three steps and the fact that he’s still trying to get used to walking (and now probably running) doesn’t help his situation at all.

 

So it’s really not a wonder that Kyungsoo finds himself lost again. And all it took are the two seconds of him looking down at his bare feet to make sure he doesn’t trip over himself.

 

He soundlessly sighs, not even bothering to feel scared anymore, unlike the first time it happened. The silent breakdown that Chanyeol had to witness halfway through isn’t one of the things Kyungsoo’s proud of. So no, there’s no way he’s going to go into a meltdown or a breakdown or whatever down he subconsciously feels like getting into just because he’s lost in TSP and of Chanyeol. Again.

 

Kyungsoo silently pads over to the wall and sits down with his legs neatly folded beneath him, just like how he usually sits with his tail. In this foreign place where he’s a stranger in, Kyungsoo finds solace in the hardness and the concrete feeling of the wall against his back as well as the soft, pleasant feel of the carpeted flooring his fingers are bunching themselves in. They’re his surprise anchors, calming him down in the identical hallways that seem to loom ominously over him. The still portraits hung on the walls double the eeriness, and Kyungsoo’s never been so glad that his father doesn’t like to see him or his ancestors or his family plastered all over the walls.

 

When he’s lost, Kyungsoo likes to think that time stops. He’s unable to tell if time’s actually moving anyway, since everything around him is unmoving and there are no windows in the middle of hallways. It’s also really weird how there are no servants, or anybody for the matter of fact, bustling about. Back home, Kyungsoo always has to keep his eyes peeled lest he gets knocked over by his family or servants or mind you, _swum_ on by his third brother because Sehun is blind, his tail malfunctions, and he’s definitely younger than Kyungsoo full stop.

 

So Kyungsoo has no idea how long he has been sitting at his spot, having dozed off sometime through, and waking up to find someone looking at him. Someone who looks just like Chanyeol. Except this Chanyeol has longer hair, _much_ longer hair.

 

“Hello,” Long-haired Chanyeol greets, and although the person is the carbon copy of Kyungsoo’s new friend, the voice is _nothing_ like the prince’s. While Chanyeol’s is deep, rough, and super low, this Chanyeol look-alike sounds like a girl. And now that Kyungsoo’s eyes are no longer clouded with sleep, the person, still looking at him with those big eyes of Chanyeol’s (which Kyungsoo has inexplicably grown to like a little), seems to look more like a girl and less like Chanyeol the boy.

 

“Are you Chanyeol’s friend?”

 

Ah. There we go, the evidence that this person isn’t Chanyeol because as much as Chanyeol is stupid and sometimes says the dumbest things, he’s not _that_ stupid — probably — to refer to himself in a third person point-of-view.

 

Upon realising that he’s not facing the real Chanyeol, Kyungsoo nods, wariness rolling off him since he hasn’t seen this person before. But Kyungsoo’s not as dumb as his human friend; he can deduce that this person could be Chanyeol’s family member, or that sister who occasionally slips into Chanyeol’s one-sided conversations with Kyungsoo (he just does something with his head and hands to respond to Chanyeol since he can’t talk) every now and then.    

 

The person seems to sense the caution brewing in Kyungsoo, and he or she immediately raises two hands, palms facing the lost merman. “I’m not going to hurt you! Please don’t think that I’m ever going to hurt you, friend of Chanyeol!” And an expression that Kyungsoo has just seen probably a couple of hours before, the one that had accompanied Chanyeol’s warning, forms on the person’s face. It doesn’t suit the person either, Kyungsoo discovers.

 

He’s about to smile, to alleviate the tense atmosphere, when the person bursts out saying, “If it helps, I’m Yura, Chanyeol’s elder sister!”

 

Oh. So she _is_ the sister Chanyeol’s talked about. Relief floods Kyungsoo almost immediately, and his shoulders drop visibly. The concerned expression on Chanyeol’s sister– _Yura_ also slips off her face, and a familiar smile finds its way across her lips. “I’m Chanyeol’s sister, his family member, so please don’t be afraid of me… um, what’s your name?”

 

Kyungsoo bites on his lower lip, discomfort washing over him upon realising that besides Baekhyun and Chanyeol, no one else knows that he can’t talk. (The potion is something only Baekhyun knows. Chanyeol doesn’t.) This situation is something Kyungsoo hasn’t met with before, so he’s a little at a loss of what to do. Fortunately, Yura seems to sense Kyungsoo’s reluctance and she backs off willingly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me; I’ll just continue to refer to you as ‘Chanyeol’s friend’, if that’s fine with you.”

 

The smile that blooms on Kyungsoo’s face tells Yura that he’s more than fine. And after he’s led to a huge room which Yura kindly informs him as her family’s dining room, Kyungsoo tugs on the hem of her sleeve and graces her inquisitive eyes with his lips mouthing his name.

 

_Kyungsoo._

  
  


\---

  
  


Chanyeol had sighed and flopped face-down onto the carpeted flooring the moment he turned around and couldn’t see his new friend. He had lost Kyungsoo _again_ despite warning the voiceless boy to stick close to him. It’s his own fault for getting lost this time, as usual.

 

But then again, it’s also Chanyeol’s fault. He had known how short Kyungsoo’s legs are, how a single step of Chanyeol’s is equivalent to almost three steps of Kyungsoo’s. Chanyeol has also noticed how his new friend is bizarrely inept at walking, much less running, and more than often stumbles so his eyes sometimes dart downwards to his feet in order to ensure that they’re not going to cause trouble for their owner. Chanyeol, on contrary to his loud and bubbly personality, has actually observed all these little things about Kyungsoo, but apparently hadn’t taken any precaution for them.

 

He should have gotten Kyungsoo to grab onto his shirt or something so Chanyeol can pull him along– uh, wait, no, that would look bad and _is_ bad. Kyungsoo’s not a puppy. He’s definitely not Chanyeol’s puppy, and Chanyeol has enough dog troubles from Jongin the goldie thank you very much. The sudden thought has Chanyeol freezing, even as an inexplicable bout of warmth spreads throughout his body. His fingers reach up to his ears, pinching the tips of them between his thumbs and indexes and Chanyeol doesn’t know if his fingertips or his ears are searing. Either way, he’s burning up just because he’s visualised his new friend holding onto his shirt and being submissively pulled along the hallways and into his room and–

 

_WOAH WHAT IN THE SEVEN–_

 

“Chanyeol?”

 

A voice shatters Chanyeol’s reverie and he comes out of it to find his father standing in the doorway of his room. The King doesn’t look too amused, and Chanyeol reckons that he’s been calling out to his son for a while now. Oops.

 

“Are you alright, son? I’ve been calling but you seem to be stuck in a trance of some sort,” Joonmyeon says, brows furrowing at the sight of his son’s face colouring. He decides to ignore the scuffling of his boy’s sneakers against his plush (and expensive) carpeted flooring. It’s okay, the boy can do anything in his room, so _tolerate Joon, tolerate_. “It’s time for lunch so get yourself into the dining room.”

 

Chanyeol nods and follows after his father, only to bump into his back when he suddenly stops and whirls around to face his tall son. “Oh, and I ought to tell you this, in case you’re still worrying about it, but your friend has been found!”

 

The prince stops breathing. “By–”

 

“By Yura!”

 

_Oh gosh._

  
  


In their short week of being friends and hanging out together, Chanyeol can describe his new red-haired friend in three words.

 

_Keeps. To. Himself._

 

Or in a single word — asocial.

 

Okay, so maybe Chanyeol’s description of Kyungsoo isn’t on point since he hasn’t spent enough time with Kyungsoo and perhaps Kyungsoo’s other friends would beg to differ but this is what Chanyeol has observed about him.

 

Putting aside the obvious point of Kyungsoo being unable to speak, the fact that his friend doesn’t initiate conversations or bodily contact with Chanyeol contributes greatly to his conclusion. Even when he’s clearly awed by the various happenings in town, Kyungsoo doesn’t express his interest through gestures, as though his mind doesn’t entertain thoughts of wanting to find out more about the things he’s so curious about. Although, this could be attributed to the constant reminders and warnings Chanyeol repeats on a thirty-minute basis. But that shouldn’t have stopped Kyungsoo, or anyone, if he’d really wanted to explore.

 

So yes, Chanyeol’s point is valid and supported with evidence. Do not rain on his parade by telling him that Kyungsoo is actually pretty friendly.

 

Which is why Chanyeol’s jaw drops the instant he walks into the dining room to see his _keeps-to-himself_ and _asocial_ friend laughing with his sister. Kyungsoo is laughing. With Yura. _Kyungsoo is actually interacting with someone else on his own what in the seven seas is going on!??!?_

 

Chanyeol’s bewilderment only increases as he shuffles towards his seat, his eyes never leaving Kyungsoo’s laughing visage. He takes in the way Kyungsoo’s body is angled towards Yura, hands not on his lap or by his sides as they usually would be, instead, they’re clapping as their owner cracks up soundlessly at whatever Chanyeol’s sister is saying. The prince sits on his chair, its legs screeching due to his weight, but the noise manages to snatch the attention of Kyungsoo away from his sister. The redhead turns towards him and dazzles Chanyeol with the brightest and most beautiful open-mouth smile he’s seen on Kyungsoo yet. But it’s the glistening tears in Kyungsoo’s slightly crescent eyes that truly catch Chanyeol’s attention and it dawns on him that it’s the second time he’s ever seen his friend crying, and just like the first time, Chanyeol unconsciously reaches out and gently thumbs those tears away.

 

“Why are you crying, Kyungsoo? I don’t want to see tears in your eyes ever again, okay?”

 

The surprise on Kyungsoo’s face as well as the loud gasp and coo from his father and sister respectively alert Chanyeol to his subconscious action. He looks like a deer caught in headlights, but awkwardly drops his hands from Kyungsoo’s face with cheeks coloured in embarrassment.

 

Throughout the meal, Chanyeol keeps his eyes on his food, ignoring the looks and gazes from the people who share the table. He especially tries hard to avoid his friend’s occasional glances, pretending that he hasn’t realised Kyungsoo’s been sneaking peeks at him every now and then.

 

If his family has anything to say about Chanyeol’s queer behaviour, they don’t mention it. Even after Chanyeol returns from sending Kyungsoo off at the entrance leading to the beach, neither Joonmyeon nor Yura pops by Chanyeol’s room to ask about it.

 

Chanyeol doesn’t know if he should feel relieved or worried.

  
  


\---

  
  


“No.”

 

“Chanyeol, you know you don’t really have a say–”

 

“I SAID NO!”

 

“Chanyeol–”

 

“I am not marrying her, father. I am _not_ going to marry that princess.”

 

“You don’t–”

 

“ _I AM NOT GOING TO DO IT. GET YURA TO MARRY HER IF YOU WANT ONE OF US TO GET MARRIED SO MUCH BUT I AM NOT GOING TO BE THE ONE TO DO IT BECAUSE–”_

 

“Because?”

 

“... Because nothing. I am not going to marry her, father. I’m sorry.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE DRAMA IS HERE. 
> 
> Or not. (Most probably not.)


	9. Tail 9

_ The sea laments _

_ The livelong day, _

_ Fringing its waste of sand; _

_ Cries back the wind from the whispering shore – _

_ No words I understand: _

_ Yet echoes in my heart a voice, _

_ As far, as near, as these – _

_ The wind that weeps, _

_ The solemn surge _

_ Of strange and lonely seas. _

 

_ — Echoes ; Walter de la Mare _

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


The image of Chanyeol’s worried face is the first thing that drifts into Kyungsoo’s bleary eyes the moment consciousness floods the merman. He unconsciously smiles, only realising that the corners of his lips are raised when Chanyeol’s face shrinks in size due to his eyes narrowing into crescents. Kyungsoo is awake instantly. 

 

_ What. What in the name of Poseidon was that!?  _ He flips himself over, burying his face into his pillow. In the darkness of his closed eyes, Chanyeol’s face remains, and Kyungsoo’s mind betrays him further by making him remember the pleasant warmth his face had felt from Chanyeol’s hands.  

 

Kyungsoo wants to rip his mind out of his head. But he can’t, so he settles for screaming into his pillow while his fingers grip it tightly. Only a month or more of being around his human prince and Kyungsoo is starting to act like a besotted mergirl. Oh for the love of Poseidon, where in the seven seas has the cool, calm, and collected (3Cs) Do Kyungsoo, the youngest prince of King Wu Yifan, disappeared off to? His 3Cs are gone, gone,  _ gone _ and sighs, Kyungsoo is a goner. 

 

He would have continued to mourn the loss of his 3Cs personality by smothering himself with his pillow and deciding if he ought to just kill himself if not for the sharp rap on his door. Kyungsoo frowns. Nobody ever visits him this early in the morning, but it’s more of the fact that nobody is  _ even awake  _ this early in the morning. His father and older brothers always oversleep, waking up only in the afternoons. Thank Poseidon for Kyungsoo’s mother who had passed on her habit of waking up early to her son. 

 

(Since Kyungsoo has never seen his mother, he only knew of that when he was ten, having heard Yifan fondly talking about it over a late brunch and the Youngest Prince was proud to be born by the only woman who had forced the King to wake up before eight for breakfast.)

 

But even so, Kyungsoo still doesn’t appreciate anyone calling upon him at this time of the day. He has barely woken up, hasn’t even taken a single step off his bed. Hasn’t even washed up but has already discovered his hidden mergirl character as well as gotten himself a visitor. No one is to blame him for his crankiness at brunch later. Nonetheless, Kyungsoo  _ is  _ a prince so he removes his face from his pillow and reluctantly calls out to allow the visitor to enter. 

 

He isn’t expecting to see Jongdae, though. Or Baekhyun. Or the fact that they’re  _ together _ . Kyungsoo lets his surprise show on his face. “What is going on? Why are you two here together? And why are you visiting me so early in the morning?” He also lets his displeasement be heard as well, and the winces on both of the sea creatures’ faces do nothing to placate Kyungsoo’s growing grumpiness. 

 

“Youngest–”

  
“Kyungsoo.” The displeasement in the prince’s tone is clear now, as he sternly corrects, raising a finger in the air. “ _ Please  _ address me by name, Jongdae.” And Kyungsoo glares at the crab. Who cares if Jongdae might lodge a complaint against Kyungsoo’s attitude later, or that he’s older by ten years. Kyungsoo sure as hell doesn’t. 

 

Jongdae’s expression states that he most probably isn’t going to address Kyungsoo by his name anytime soon, but for the sake of whatever he is here for, the crab does it anyway. Reluctantly. “Fine,  _ Kyungsoo _ .” 

 

Kyungsoo’s glare subsides, but he keeps his expression schooled into that of an unimpressed one. He doesn’t like how people keeps addressing him based on his status; he has a name and he very much prefers to be called by it. He also doesn’t like having to constantly remind others about his preference. 

 

“Thank you, Jongdae, and what is your business for intruding upon my room  _ this early _ ?” 

 

Jongdae blatantly ignores Kyungsoo’s gripe, only taking in the  _ business  _ part of his question and he coughs into his claw. He motions for Baekhyun to swim forward but doesn’t turn to see if he has. Instead, he looks at the prince who’s still seated on his bed, tail neatly folded beneath him, and begins to say, “It has come to my attention, Kyungsoo, that you have been partaking in certain matters that seem to be rather… illegal.” 

 

Kyungsoo knows where this is going. He darts his eyes over to Baekhyun, only to meet with an avoidant gaze as his best friend pointedly looks at everywhere but at him. Kyungsoo mentally sighs. Jongdae must have gotten it out of Baek–

 

“Oh, but don’t blame young Byun too much, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae continues, claw gesturing towards Baekhyun. “There was no way he could have denied my accusations since I basically gave him a detailed account on how  _ you  _ turned into a  _ human _ since I have been there for almost every single one of your transformations at that rock. Which means that, yes, I know all about your escapades.” 

 

The guilty expression on Baekhyun’s face cues Kyungsoo in on his current feeling, and Kyungsoo would be lying if he says that his heart isn’t slightly hurting because of his friend’s obvious display of guilt. As much as he wants to blame Baekhyun, he knows he can’t because if what Jongdae had said is true, there was no way in the seven seas could Baekhyun concoct another story to cover for Kyungsoo. 

 

So Kyungsoo just wings it. Since Jongdae claims that he has seen him transform, there’s also no way he can swim himself out of this. He’s got to deal with it head-on. 

 

“So?” Kyungsoo’s tone is firm, steady, and frankly he’s surprised it’s not wavering. His insides, on the other hand, is another matter. He suppresses the urge to heave. 

 

If Jongdae is taken aback by Kyungsoo’s bluntness, nothing about his expression or tone of words betray it. “I’m just here to warn you about the consequences of–”

 

“If you’re here to tell me about the side effects of Yixing’s potion, then save it; I already know about them.” 

 

“I know that you knew about them.” Jongdae smoothly continues even after being interrupted, his eyelids not batting an inch. “I already went over to Yixing’s and enquired about them.” 

 

“You  _ what _ –”

 

“Needless to say, he won’t be making any potions for you, or Sehun, for the rest of your lives.” Jongdae’s gaze on Kyungsoo informs Kyungsoo that his father’s advisor means business. But Kyungsoo is never one to back down, never one to bow his head to another. He is never one to have the words  _ give up  _ in his dictionary. 

 

“Who are  _ you  _ to dictate what I  _ can _ do and what I  _ can’t _ do,” Kyungsoo snarls. He swings his tail out from under him and in a single, powerful kick, he manages to push himself all the way in front of Jongdae. The crab gets pushed back a little and this time, his shock is written all over his face. “You are not my father, nor are you one of my brothers. You’re not even a  _ friend _ so you have no right to tell me how to live my life!” 

 

Kyungsoo’s yell reverberates throughout his room. It’s so loud, it might as well have woken up the entire palace. (But if it didn’t, this just means that the Royal Family are seriously a bunch of merpigs.) For someone who prefers to speak or say nothing at all, yelling and hollering takes a lot out of Kyungsoo, and it’s evident in the way his shoulders and chest are rising and falling rapidly. His eyes are also bugged out and way larger than usual. 

 

But it seems that Jongdae isn’t fazed, for he swims forward slightly, closing the short distance between Kyungsoo and him. “Have you thought about this, Youn– Kyungsoo, that you’re a merman while he’s human, and that not once in our long history has any merperson lived happily ever after with a human. Have you thought about what would happen should he discover that you’re a merman instead of a human like he thought you was? Have you thought about what would happen to you then? Your–” Kyungsoo makes a move to interrupt but Jongdae shushes him with a gentle pinch on his lips with his claw. “–feelings? Don’t deny that you don’t like that human. But have you really thought about all these? That at the end of it all, did you really think you’d end up with him? That you’ll get a happily ever after?” 

 

Jongdae’s expression is a fond one that Kyungsoo hasn’t seen before. Both his words and worried countenance surprises Kyungsoo and honestly, he kind of likes being the recipient of such concerns. And now that the merman thinks about it,  _ really  _ thinks about it, the crab’s words are kind of true. The fact that he is a merman and that Chanyeol is a human cannot be changed because even though Kyungsoo is able to sprout legs with the help of Yixing’s potion, the fact that he is a merperson by birth cannot be denied. 

 

_ But it’s been so long, it’s been five, going onto six, years since I’ve set my eyes on him.  _ Kyungsoo thinks.  _ And now that I am finally his friend, can I let go of what I have now with him? Can I throw away the friendship I’ve yearned to establish with him ever since I was twelve? Should I listen to Jongdae and stop all these? Should–  _

 

“Don’t listen to him, Soo.” 

 

Kyungsoo snaps his head towards the familiar voice instantly. His eyes no longer meet with a guilty expression, but finds themselves looking at the usual face of Byun Baekhyun. The defiant glint in his eyes is back. “Just do what you want. We can deal with the consequences later but the present is what matters.” He swims forward and stops right next to Kyungsoo. 

 

“That’s why it’s called ‘a gift’.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  


“Yixing! Yixing, open up!” Kyungsoo calls out, knuckles rapping impatiently against the doctor’s door. He had looked through the windows, but there were curtains obscuring his view so the merman is unsure if Yixing’s at home. He continues to knock, though. 

 

Despite hearing Jongdae’s warning echoing after him as he swiftly swims out of his room through his opened balcony doors, Kyungsoo doesn’t stop. All he thinks about are Baekhyun’s words and the image of Chanyeol’s worried face. After hearing his best friend dissuading against him heeding Jongdae’s advice, Kyungsoo knew exactly what to do. And that is why he is  _ still  _ knocking on Yixing’s door. 

 

“Yixingggggggg,” Kyungsoo wails, raising his other hand and clenching it, and he pounds it against the wood. He alternates his fists, the sounds they’re making upon the door creating a rhythm akin to the song the Royal Band makes with their drums. But Kyungsoo isn’t here to make music, he’s here for his legs potion. “Yixing, I know you’re in there!”

 

The door swings open inward but Kyungsoo didn’t have time to snap his hands back to his sides, so he falls through the doorway and lands sprawled on a sighing wizard. “Kyungsoo…”

 

The merman leaps up, clearly embarrassed but he doesn’t forget to help Yixing up, only letting go when he’s certain that the wizard’s legs are not tangled. “Sorry, didn’t mean to keep making you fall over.” He sucks in his lower lip in nervousness. “But I’m here for the potion again.”

 

“Didn’t Jongdae mention that you, or Sehun, aren’t supposed to be coming for anymore of my potions?” 

 

Kyungsoo nods. “But I’m here anyway because I’m not going to listen to him. I’m not going to sit around and wait for my happiness to drop into my lap.” 

 

“That’s true,” Yixing muses. He shuffles into his house and Kyungsoo follows. “One should never stop fighting for what he or she wants.” He stops in front of the cabinet where his completed potions are stored. “And this is why I’m still going to give you this.” 

 

The small vial filled with the delicious off-white liquid gets gently placed in Kyungsoo’s opened palms. Kyungsoo gazes at it, noticing how specks of something like glitter swirls within the clam chowder (it technically is) and he’s about to ask of this unusual sparkle when Yixing beats him to it.

 

“You remember the rule: get back into the waters before sundown.” Yixing reminds and he smiles when Kyungsoo nods rapidly, a large grin plastered on his face. The question is forgotten. “Now go get him, tiger.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


The moment a figure appears on the beach, Chanyeol runs down immediately, slapping on a happy expression to hide the sorrow in his eyes. He mustn’t let Kyungsoo know about the marriage offer. Chanyeol doesn’t know why he doesn’t want to tell his friend, but he just  _ knows  _ that he doesn’t want to. 

 

What Kyungsoo doesn’t know won’t hurt him, and in turn, it probably won’t hurt Chanyeol that much as well. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Thanks for agreeing to my request to do nothing but stare out at the sea today, Kyungsoo.” 

 

Kyungsoo lifts his head to look at Chanyeol, who’s standing on the steps leading to the back door of TSP. He catches sight of a flash of an emotion that’s clearly not of joy in Chanyeol’s eyes, but doesn’t raise attention to it since it’s gone in a jiffy and Chanyeol’s smiling expression doesn’t hold onto to any of that emotion. 

 

He smiles back, and earns himself a gentle ruffle on his bed of red hair, which causes the smile on his face to spread wider. Despite being unable to speak and inform Chanyeol of his thoughts and feelings, not once has Kyungsoo felt that Chanyeol was unable to understand him. In fact, it’s this, unfortunate at first but now actually rather fortunate, effect of the potion that Kyungsoo can only transmit his messages through things other than speech, that has brought the pair of friends to the friendship that they have now.  

 

Kyungsoo never is the touchy kind of person, and would never initiate skin contact with another unless the situation calls for it. In his life, he has Baekhyun and his family members to make up for his lack of proactivity in this aspect. And when he is a merman, he can  _ speak _ . So even if no one comes into contact with him bodily, Kyungsoo is able to get his messages across through speech. 

 

But when he is human, or technically a merman with legs, Kyungsoo can’t do what he normally can do when he’s underwater. So in order to get the attention of others on land, he has to step out of his comfort zone and initiate contact. Kyungsoo’s glad that he doesn’t have to gain the attention of many people though, since he only comes into contact with Chanyeol, and sometimes his sister and father and perhaps a couple of TSP staff. Which is why Kyungsoo doesn’t find it a chore. It’s painless and almost effortless when it comes to getting the attention of Chanyeol through his touches upon the human’s body. It’s almost thrilling, a joy even, to gently touch Chanyeol’s arms, wrap his fingers around Chanyeol’s wrist, or when Kyungsoo is in a daring mood, circles his arms around Chanyeol’s waist before leaning his head on his chest. 

 

So it’s without preamble, this time, that Chanyeol clearly understands what Kyungsoo is trying to convey with the growing smile on his face. And likewise, Kyungsoo doesn’t need Chanyeol to speak, even when he can, to know that he has to leave for dinner with his family when Chanyeol removes his hand from Kyungsoo’s head and jerks a thumb towards the top of the steps. 

 

Kyungsoo wistfully waves to a retreating Chanyeol as he watches his friend vanish around the corner that leads to the backdoor. He drops his hand and starts walking towards the rock. He drags his bare feet, creating two lines of tracks in their wake. Kyungsoo reaches the rock and as always, he looks upwards at TSP’s only balcony to see if Chanyeol’s there. He isn’t. And even though Kyungsoo knows that he shouldn’t be disappointed since most of the time Chanyeol isn’t there anyway, he still feels that way. 

 

So the merman just sits and wait for the potion to wear off, slowly slinking his way towards the water, relishing in the coolness that washes over his feet and prickles his toes (he learnt of it from Chanyeol after pointing to it and giving the human a confused look). With his legs in the sea, Kyungsoo waits. 

 

And waits.

 

And waits.

 

And waits  _ some more _ . 

 

But his legs remain, and no tail appears. Unlike the rest of the times where the moment the sun dips below the horizon and Kyungsoo’s legs glow blue and his green tail appears after, nothing of that sort is happening. And Kyungsoo will be lying if he says that he isn’t feeling scared. He’s frightened, actually. 

 

Kyungsoo runs his hands up and down his legs, soundlessly muttering  _ what is going on what is happening why aren’t you turning back into my tail why why why  _ repeatedly under his breath. He starts to get breathless and decides to ignore his legs for the time being to tilt his head up towards the sky, only to feel even more despair when he realises that shades of navy blue have already begun to spread their colour across the sunset sky. Kyungsoo looks towards the last speck of red and orange and yellow in the horizon, panic washing over him as he watches in utter horror the sun disappearing beneath the waves. The sun has set. 

 

But why are Kyungsoo’s legs still here?

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I need more sleep (who doesn't). 
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) and [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits)


	10. Tail 10

_The old moon is tarnished_

_With smoke of the flood,_

_The dead leaves are varnished_

_With colour like blood,_

 

_A treacherous smiler_

_With teeth white as milk,_

_A savage beguiler_

_In sheathings of silk,_

 

_The sea creeps to pillage,_

_She leaps on her prey;_

_A child of the village_

_Was murdered today._

 

_She came up to meet him_

_In a smooth golden cloak,_

_She choked him and beat him_

_To death, for a joke._

 

_Her bright locks are tangled,_

_She shouted for joy,_

_With one hand she strangled_

_A strong little boy._

 

_Now in silence she lingers_

_Beside him all night_

_To wash her long fingers_

_In silvery light._

 

_— Sea Lullaby ; Elinor Wylie_

 

 

* * *

  
  


In Chanyeol’s defense, which he blurts out with his mouth full of omelette and pancake and everything is just splattering everywhere on the dining table much to the disgust of Yura and Joonmyeon, it’s not his fault that he’s _smiling like a creep_ _so early in the morning_ (according to the sister). That he is unable to control the happiness and delight surging through his entire body, causing his lips to curve sharply upwards while his cheekbones rise to heaven. That he keeps drifting off into a daze every time he unconsciously recalls the image of a small bundle still sleeping soundly on his bed.

 

It’s not Chanyeol’s fault that Kyungsoo has stayed the night.

 

“You’re an idiot,” Yura remarks, fingers curling around the ear of her mug. She brings the rim to her lips and takes a long noisy sip that’s clearly very un-princess-like. Thank goodness Joonmyeon has already left for his room, or there will be a long lecture about etiquettes which the siblings can do without. “Can’t you see?”

 

Chanyeol pauses in his chewing of his twelfth pancake. “See what?”

 

Yura groans. “Nevermind. It’s nothing.” Then she adds, “I should have known.”

 

“Known what?”

 

“That my brother is useless in everything else that has nothing to do with The Ocean.”

 

“Hey!”

  
  


\---

  
  


In Kyungsoo’s defense, which he soundlessly tries to convey through a flurry of gestures and exaggerated facial expressions, it’s not his fault that he kicked Chanyeol right in the chest and off the bed. That he had opened his eyes to find ~~the human of his dreams~~ Chanyeol looking down at him with a smile on his face. That he had been so surprised, he went into fight or flight mode, resulting in the human prince to be unceremoniously knocked off his own bed and landing on the floor with an un-prince-like swear. (Thank goodness Joonmyeon hadn’t been in the room, or there will be a lecture about the words the Royal family never should use.)

 

It’s not Kyungsoo’s fault that he stayed the night.

 

Despite being concerned about Chanyeol, who was rolling around on the floor wailing about his supposed pain, Kyungsoo knew his priorities and decided to check on the sole reason he had to knock on TSP’s backdoor the previous night. He gingerly lifted the comforter and peeked beneath it. His legs were still there, no tail in sight. Kyungsoo didn’t know if he should be relieved or not. And even if his tail has miraculously reappeared during the night, there’s no way he can leave TSP without revealing his identity; that he’s a merman and not a human. But the fact that his tail has not replaced his legs made Kyungsoo nervous and afraid, for this is a side effect that Yixing has not made known to him.

 

Again, Kyungsoo didn’t know if he should feel relieved or not.

 

“Kyungsoo, it’s fine.”

 

Chanyeol’s voice instantly stops Kyungsoo in his movements, where his hands are in the air and etched on his face is the most apologetic expression he can muster. He’s genuinely sorry for kicking Chanyeol and for causing his back and buttocks to hurt. He hopes Chanyeol knows. And apparently he does, for Chanyeol gives Kyungsoo a smile and says, “It’s fine, I was kidding about the pain. I’m as strong as a bull, so getting pushed off the bed is nothing.” The smile quirks into a smirk. “So stop apologising, alright?”

 

Kyungsoo knows better than to doubt Chanyeol’s words, seeing how the human seems to wear his heart on his sleeve, and how he’s almost an open book for everyone to read, so he just nods in agreement and allows Chanyeol to pull him over to the balcony, where a table and two chairs have been set up, with plates of food on the table surface. Kyungsoo cocks a brow at the setup, confusion and subtle mirth written on his face because _um, what’s going on?_

 

“You missed breakfast,” Chanyeol explains, though his eyes are looking everywhere but at Kyungsoo’s questioning ones. He has a hand on his nape and a dust of pink on his cheeks. Kyungsoo amusedly notices the tips of his friend’s ears going red. “So I had the kitchen to prepare the food and since the weather is good today, I thought that you might want to have your brunch outside?”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t know why Chanyeol’s phrased his words as a question instead of a statement because honestly, Kyungsoo wouldn’t disagree to anything Chanyeol is going to do for him since he’s the guest and not privy to making decisions for things that are happening in Chanyeol’s home. Kyungsoo isn’t the one living here, Chanyeol is. And Kyungsoo has learnt enough mannerisms to know that he shouldn’t refuse any goodwill from the hosts of the places he’s visiting. Yifan has made sure of that.

 

But Kyungsoo doesn’t know if Chanyeol will understand where he’s coming from if he wants to make his thoughts known to him since he still can’t speak and all, so he just naturally nods and smiles. It’s all he does around Chanyeol anyway. And this time is no exception.

 

The joyful whoop that comes out of Chanyeol’s mouth as well as the brilliant smile that plays across his lips tells Kyungsoo that he has made the correct response and his reward sends his heart thumping.

  
  


\---

  
  


It’s a gut feeling that Kyungsoo had felt as he was staring out at The Ocean, legs dangling over the edge of the balcony while his fingers gripped the bars that prevented his head from squeezing through, that had Kyungsoo sneaking out of TSP and running to the rock where his best friend was waiting.

 

Or, Kyungsoo had just seen Baekhyun appearing. It’s not that hard to see the yellow fish bobbing in the big blue.

 

“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun cries out the moment Kyungsoo throws himself into the waters and circles his arms around his best friend. “You didn’t return home and I was so worried and thought that you’ve been caught by the guards or captured by the humans and– wait,” He abruptly stops talking to pop his head under the waves, resurfacing a couple of seconds later with an incredulous expression on his face. “You still have your legs!”

 

Kyungsoo nods despondently. He backs away from Baekhyun and sits on the sand, not minding that he’s dirtying Chanyeol’s pair of shorts that he had oh-so-reverently gazed at when Chanyeol handed it to him.

 

Baekhyun swims closer to him, as far as he can go without getting his gills full of sand and incidentally killing himself. He places a fin on Kyungsoo’s foot. “Is this why you couldn’t return home last night? Because your tail didn’t reappear?” At Kyungsoo’s nod, he sighs. “I would ask you what happened but I suppose you wouldn’t know, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to go ask Yixing.” Kyungsoo nods again.

 

“Stay put,” Baekhyun instructs. “I’ll be back soon.” And the fish would have dived under if not for a pair of arms circling around him again. Baekhyun stops and turns around, allowing himself to smile despite the circumstances. Kyungsoo’s cheek is warm against his cold scales, the stark difference in temperature sending a shiver down Baekhyun’s spine but he feels none of that. He only feels the heat emanating from his best friend’s arms and if Baekhyun will be lying if he says he’s not liking it. He misses Kyungsoo, he really does.

 

“You’ll be alright, Soo,” Baekhyun gently murmurs as he nuzzles back, feeling his scales bristling against Kyungsoo’s skin. “You’ll turn back into a merman soon enough. You can count on me.”

 

The smile that he feels on his scales tells Baekhyun that indeed, Kyungsoo will be counting on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have nothing to say but: yeol's abs. 
> 
> and soo's adorable tummy (please don't be peer pressured into revealing any body part kyungsoo ;; i still love you no matter what you do)


	11. Tail 11

_My bounding bark, I fly to thee, –_

_I’m wearied of the shore;_

_I long to hail the swelling sea,_

_And wander free once more;_

_A sailor’s life of reckless glee,_

_That only is the life for me!_

 

_I was not born for fashion’s slave,_

_Or the dull city’s strife;_

_Be mine the spirit-stirring wave,_

_The roving sailor’s life:_

_A life of freedom on the sea,_

_That only is the life for me!_

 

_I was not born for lighted halls,_

_Or the gay revel’s round;_

_My music is where the Ocean calls,_

_And echoing rocks resound:_

_The wandering sailor’s life of glee,_

_That only is the life for me!_

 

_— “My Bounding Bark” ; Anonymous_

  


* * *

  


Kyungsoo wakes up because he feels that his face might be on fire. The heat is uncomfortable, his nose and eyelids burning up every couple of seconds. Kyungsoo scrunches his nose and squeezes his eyes tightly, as if hoping that his actions will take the heat away.

 

They don’t.

 

So, Kyungsoo tries to turn, only to discover that he can’t. There’s something on his waist, preventing his escape from the source of the heat that’s seemingly getting hotter and hotter. His face might just really catch fire at this rate. Left with no choice, Kyungsoo forgoes going back to sleep, and decides to open his eyes. It’s not a very wise idea.

 

For Chanyeol’s ~~godly gorgeous beautiful handsome good-looking~~ sleeping face is right in front of his eyes.

 

The unexpected sight has Kyungsoo squeaking and his body instinctively jerks away, though he doesn’t even get to move an inch since the deadweight is still on his waist. Fortunately, Kyungsoo is _still_ voiceless so even though his mouth is wide open and his throat is actually working to produce loud squeaks, Chanyeol’s room is still silent save for the soft sounds of waves crashing onto rocks.

 

It takes a couple of minutes for Kyungsoo to calm down and even though the source of his panic is right in front of him, Kyungsoo doesn’t look away. His gaze flits to Chanyeol’s parted lips and he realises that’s where the heat that has been assaulting him comes from. Kyungsoo chuckles, feeling a little dumb that he actually thought that his face was on fire.

 

Another bout of heat rushes into his face, and his attention is back on Chanyeol’s lips. There’s an inexplicable itch forming at the tips of his fingers and Kyungsoo feels the growing desire to reach up to Chanyeol’s face to trace the lines of his lips, to place his own pair against Chanyeol’s and find out how it feels like to kiss someone. The desire claws at his insides but Kyungsoo is strong, he squashes it down despite knowing that he has to do it someday.

 

That he has to kiss Chanyeol in order to save himself.

  
  


\---

  
  


_“Soo!”_

 

_Kyungsoo glances up from his toes, having been once again amusing himself with those ten stubs, and sees Baekhyun emerging from beneath the waves. He’s about to smile when he realises that Baekhyun’s not alone._

 

 _“Why,” Kyungsoo growls, soundlessly, standing up quickly before stomping over to where Baekhyun is. Seawater splashes up and wets his clothes, but Kyungsoo gives them no mind at all for his attention is on something, or_ someone _, else. “Is_ Jongdae _here?”_

 

_Kyungsoo sees the exchange of looks between his best friend and his father’s advisor, and pretends to not notice the subtle aura of friendship emanating from the two creatures. Irritation bubbles within Kyungsoo. “Baekhyun, why is he here!”_

 

_“Because I want to be,” Jongdae answers, and Kyungsoo is shocked that he can actually lipread so quickly. “Because despite what I have said to you, it doesn’t erase the truth that I care about you.” And the crab darts his eyes over to Kyungsoo, barely flinching under the boy’s powerful glare._

 

_“I watched you grow up, Kyungsoo. And even though I may be mean–”_

 

_“Glad that you know,” Kyungsoo soundlessly interjects._

 

_“–and crabby–”_

 

_“Good to know that you know that,” Baekhyun giggles._

 

 _“–but at the end of the day, I still care about you. And it’s not because I have to since I serve your father, but because I_ want to _.”_

 

_Kyungsoo looks at Jongdae, and takes in the sincerity that’s shown so clearly on the crab’s red face. And the merman suddenly thinks back to all the times he’s tormented his father’s friend together with Sehun when they were wee lads, and recalls the initial anger gradually fading into resignation and eventually fond smiles. Jongdae’s concern is genuine, and it is as he has said, it’s not because he’s Yifan’s advisor, it’s because he really likes them._

 

_Probably._

 

 _So it’s with this realisation that has Kyungsoo’s scowl neutralising and his entire body relaxes after letting the anger go. His mumble of_ fine Jongdae thanks for caring about me _has both Baekhyun and Jongdae grinning, and Kyungsoo finds himself with an armful of his best friend._

 

_But the moment of happiness is short-lived, for Kyungsoo hears Jongdae clear his throat and the serious expression on the crab’s face tells the merman that he’s not going to like what Jongdae is about to say._

 

_Kyungsoo doesn’t. He really doesn’t like what Baekhyun (Jongdae gave him the honour of breaking the news to Kyungsoo) has said, though most of this dislike is attributed to his confusion._

 

_“So, wait, let me get this straight.” Kyungsoo stares intently at his best friend, who has a grim look on his fishy face. “I have five days to kiss the person who is my true love because if I don’t, I’m going to turn into bubbles.”_

 

_“And die,” Baekhyun adds a moment later, his eyes squinting as his mind tries to decipher Kyungsoo’s silent words, before yelping when Jongdae smacks his tail. “Why’d you hit me!”_

 

_“For your lack of tact,” Jongdae snaps, but the annoyance disappears as he turns to look at Kyungsoo. Worry floods him when he sees his friend’s son with a sombre expression. “Look, Kyungsoo, it’s not the end of the world. When Yixing was telling us this, he’s actually concocting an antidote for the potion he has given you. Turns out he gave you a five-day potion instead of the one-day potions you’ve been getting from him. But he has no idea why he had decided to include a curse of some sort into the five-day potion, and he has forgotten about it until Baekhyun and I went to him, so he’s currently working on the antidote.”_

 

_“Will he complete the antidote before the five days–” Kyungsoo stops, then brings a hand up with all five fingers straightened. He mentally counts the number of days he’s been staying at Chanyeol’s home. Two fingers are folded. Kyungsoo’s eyes widen and the sudden wave of panic flashing within is shown for all to see. “I only have three days left. Three days. Three days!”_

 

_“Don’t worry, Soo,” Baekhyun pipes up, ignoring the look of warning Jongdae is sending him. “I already figured out the identity of your ‘true love’, and that person is your human. So, yeah, you have three days to convince your human to kiss you but, oh darn, that’s gonna be hard since you can’t talk and– ouch! Jongdae!”_

 

_Jongdae pointedly ignores the fish’s look of outrage and addresses Kyungsoo instead. “Don’t listen to young Byun, Kyungsoo. Yixing will get the antidote done before the three days, so you just hang on. But if you want a backup plan, may I suggest…”_

 

_Kyungsoo blinks, then realises that Jongdae’s waiting for him to give a go-ahead, which he does, but Kyungsoo finds it odd. Then he knows why._

 

_“That you work on getting a kiss from your human.”_

  
  


\---

  
  


Chanyeol yawns as he rubs his eyes before dropping his head onto the book he had been tasked to complete days before. Or specifically, on the day he found Kyungsoo. That was two days ago, and Chanyeol hasn’t really found time to resume his reading since he’s been spending those time with his new friend, and speaking of him… Chanyeol flips his head in the direction of the balcony and darts his eyes to the lone figure sitting right at the edge.

 

The mess of red hair on Kyungsoo’s head is a sharp contrast against the blue backdrop of sky and sea, and Chanyeol finds himself staring, staring, and staring and _wait, since when is Kyungsoo’s hair so close to–_

 

“Oh my gosh!” Chanyeol shrieks, after realising that he has somehow — unconsciously — abandoned his book and walked over to the balcony. He sees Kyungsoo whirling around, an utterly confused look on his face. In his daze, Chanyeol doesn’t understand why Kyungsoo’s getting up from his spot and crawling over to him until he feels warmth on his knee and discovers that he’s sprawled on the balcony floor, propped up on his elbows and his legs are embarrassingly wide open. ~~Chanyeol rapidly dismisses the sudden thought that whizzes through his mind as to why Kyungsoo didn’t crawl between his legs.~~

 

The confusion on Kyungsoo’s face has cleared, but Chanyeol doesn’t like the way Kyungsoo’s worry is rearranging his facial features. But he keeps his thoughts and hands to himself, and focuses on helping Kyungsoo in his attempt at getting Chanyeol to sit back up. It’s when Chanyeol is sitting on his buttocks and smiling tentatively does Kyungsoo heave a silent sigh of relief and he returns the smile with a small one of his own.

 

Chanyeol doesn’t know why he finds the barely-existent smile adorable, and an urge to protect it at all costs bursts within him. And it is this particular unexplainable feeling that has Chanyeol blurting out, “Want to go on a date with me?”

  
  


Chanyeol’s body is on fire. And even though he knows that he’s perspiring everywhere and anywhere, Chanyeol still feels as though his body is burning up. He contemplates jumping into the endless water that is surrounding him. All he has to do is to abandon the oars and jump right in. But he can’t. He has Kyungsoo to think about because, well, he’s on a date with him.

 

Okay, so, maybe calling it a date is a tad too much. It’s more of a, hmm, _excursion_. An excursion out to sea on a boat that Chanyeol is rowing all on his own. Despite knowing that exhaustion will hit him sometime during the excursion, and that Kyungsoo more than likely wouldn’t know how to row a boat, Chanyeol had vehemently refused the rowing service one of the boat caretakers have offered. He had reckoned then that his strength and energy would be more than sufficient to last for the entire excursion.

 

How wrong he was.

 

“Ugh,” Chanyeol wheezes as he sets down the oars for the fourth time in minutes and leans forward, elbows on his knees, to catch his breath. He honestly has underestimated the strength and endurance needed to row a boat. It had looked so simple to him, the boatman who rows his family on several occasions on a much larger boat had made rowing seem so effortless. Chanyeol needs to have a word with that boatman.

 

A hand on his head prompts Chanyeol to look up and his breath hitches in his throat. For Kyungsoo, even though he’s just looking worriedly at him, is bathed in rays of the afternoon sun and there seems to be a halo around the crown of his head and the straw hat that Chanyeol has insisted on slapping it on the boy’s head for sun protection isn’t helping Chanyeol’s image of Kyungsoo being a cute straw hat angel much. Also, _is that a heart made out of petals forming around your face–_

 

Kyungsoo’s mouth opens and Chanyeol manages to read from the way his lips are moving slowly, as if he’s helping Chanyeol to comprehend what he’s trying to say, that Kyungsoo’s asking if he’s alright. A smile automatically spreads across Chanyeol’s face without him needing to prompt his brain to transmit the instruction. He nods and the smile grows wider when Kyungsoo smiles as well.

 

Chanyeol’s smile drops a little when he sees Kyungsoo’s hands (rather small actually and Chanyeol’s mind betrays him by making him think how it’d feel to hold them) reaching for the oars at the bottom of the boat and Chanyeol immediately stops him. “What are you doing, Kyungsoo?”

 

It’s adorable, the way Kyungsoo tilts his head to a side as though he’s wondering why Chanyeol is asking him when his motive is so clear, and yes, Chanyeol knows what his friend is trying to do but his dumb mouth acts faster than his brain.

 

“You sure you want to row?”

 

Kyungsoo nods, and Chanyeol assists him in releasing the oars into the sea and removes his hands from the wood, leaning back to watch how Kyungsoo is going to do what he finds exhausting and requires strength. He’s taken aback.

 

Because Kyungsoo is rowing. He’s actually _rowing_ and the boat is moving and Chanyeol feels a soft breeze on his face. Wow. Just, wow (for the lack of a better word). Chanyeol is impress–

 

The oars clatter noisily onto the bottom of the boat and Chanyeol finds himself looking at a pouting Kyungsoo who’s massaging his arms with a large pout on his face. He bursts out into uninhibited laughter a second later because the sight is so cute.

 

He receives a smack on his knee from Kyungsoo after the boy finds out that Chanyeol’s laughing at him, but Chanyeol returns the favour with a playful tousle of his red hair after removing the straw hat from his head. “Guess you can’t row that long either huh, Kyungsoo.”

 

The silent huff from Kyungsoo sends Chanyeol into another bout of laughter and as Kyungsoo pulls the ends of his straw hat all the way downwards in a poor attempt to cover his reddening face, the action which Chanyeol finds extremely adorable and endearing at the same time, he realises something.

 

_Oh gosh. For the love of Poseidon._

 

_Does he… like Kyungsoo?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you sm for the wonderful behind-the-stage photos of yeol and his wondrous abs. _thank you_
> 
> AND OF SOO COMBING HIS HAIR ;;;; THANK YOU SO MUCH SM HUHUHUUUU
> 
>  
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) and [ask.fm](http://ask.fm/soobiscuits)


	12. Tail 12

_ Matelot, Matelot, _

_ Where you go _

_ My heart goes with you, _

_ Matelot, Matelot, _

_ When you go down to the sea. _

_ For a year and a day _

_ You may sail away _

_ And have no thought of me, _

_ Yet through the wind and the spray, _

_ You will hear me say _

_ No love was ever free. _

_ You will sigh _

_ When horizons are clear, _

_ Something that is dear _

_ To me _

_ Cannot let me be, _

_ Matelot, Matelot, _

_ Where you go _

_ My heart goes with you, _

_ Matelot, Matelot, _

_ When you go down to the sea. _

 

_ — Matelot, Refrain 2 ;  _ _ Noël _ _ Coward _

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Today is the day. 

 

Today is the day Chanyeol will show Kyungsoo. 

 

Today is the day Chanyeol will show Kyungsoo  ~~ how much he likes him ~~ his most prized possessions. It is the day where Chanyeol will let go of his inhibitions and show his  ~~ one and only ~~ friend how much he trusts him. It is the day of where he’s going to show someone the truth hidden in the chests in his room. 

 

Yes, today is the day Chanyeol is going to show Kyungsoo that he is not embarrassed–

 

“Oh this is so embarrassing!” Chanyeol wails, hands flying up to cover his eyes the moment he gives his go-ahead for Kyungsoo to open one of the chests Chanyeol’s dragged into the middle of his room. He had refused to look Kyungsoo in the eye while he was half-pulling — and half-wheezing — his precious chests, despite sneaking several glances and catching sight of his friend’s adorably curious expressions. Those large owlish eyes should be banned from appearing in front of Chanyeol, lest the prince does things he doesn’t want to. 

 

Besides the sound of the waves crashing onto the rocks, Chanyeol only hears the creaks coming from the hinges of his chest and even though he’s thoroughly embarrassed (psh, not embarrassed my foot), Chanyeol parts his fingers and peeks through the spaces between. 

 

The chest in front of Kyungsoo is fully opened, and Chanyeol’s eyes widen in horror when he sees the different shades of green fabric folded within the chest.  _ Oh what in the seven seas–  _ Of all chests to pick, Kyungsoo just  _ had to  _ pick the chest that stores all of Chanyeol’s tails made in his childhood. Of all chests, it just had to be that. Those short tails are the primary sources of Chanyeol’s embarrassment, in all honesty. Brilliant. Just brilliant. 

 

“Oh gosh,” Chanyeol laments, fingernails clawing at his face as he watches Kyungsoo squat down and peer inside, eyes still very much owlish and very much wrecking Chanyeol’s determination to keep his hands to himself. “This is so embarrassing. This is so embarrassing. This is  _ so embarras– _ ”

 

A sudden gust slaps across Chanyeol’s face, startling him and he stops his repeated moaning instantly, only to have the horror in his body multiply when he finally realises what caused the gust. Chanyeol screams.

 

The girly scream that comes out of Chanyeol is something the prince is not proud of, but what is he to do when the very first source of his lifelong embarrassment is in the hands of a vehemently shaking Kyungsoo? Chanyeol still has his hands on his face as he crumples onto the floor and watches in utter horror his friend twirling around with a short green tail, the movement similar to Yura spinning around with her dresses. Kyungsoo stops long enough for Chanyeol to catch the opened heart where his lips are supposed to be, and the way it brightens up Kyungsoo’s face makes Chanyeol’s stomach flip. 

 

Chanyeol doesn’t know how long he’s sat on the floor with his eyes following Kyungsoo, but he’s certain that he must have spaced out for when he returns to reality, the concerned expression he sometimes sees on Kyungsoo’s face greets him. Kyungsoo’s lips are no longer parted in the opened heart, but Chanyeol manages to lipread his friend’s  _ are you alright?  _

 

And as always, Chanyeol nods, hoping to dispel the worry so clearly displayed on Kyungsoo’s face. The expression doesn’t suit him, not when there’s a so much more good-looking one that Chanyeol very much prefers to see. 

 

Kyungsoo smiles, returning his attention to the tail in his hands and Chanyeol has to mentally slap himself in the face when his arms jerk in response to Kyungsoo backing away. He has no doubt as to what his arms were about to do; and he can’t have that. Kyungsoo would be shocked and frightened, so no, Chanyeol  _ must resist _ . 

 

But it’s hard to. It’s so hard to not give in to his want, that came absolutely out of nowhere, to pull Kyungsoo into a hug. Not when Kyungsoo himself is making things so bloody difficult for Chanyeol, what with that amused and endearing expression on his face as he holds the short tail up to his face and curiously inspects it before putting it on his stretched legs to compare the length. The killer wave that had  _ almost  _ eroded Chanyeol’s sheer will is Kyungsoo trying to be discreet as he visually compares the difference in length between Chanyeol’s first tail and Chanyeol’s legs now. 

 

The sight is too cute. Chanyeol almost gave up and risked traumatising the poor boy. 

 

Yet, as the morning progresses and Kyungsoo opens up the rest of the chests and marvels at the array of tails, Chanyeol notices that not once has Kyungsoo laughed at him or teased him for having these many tails when it’s obviously super weird. It’s either Kyungsoo’s too nice to mention that he actually thinks that Chanyeol’s strange, or that he honestly doesn’t think it’s freaky. Chanyeol hopes it’s the latter, because it would mean that he’s able to trust Kyungsoo to not talk about whatever he has out of the palace. (Not that Kyungsoo is able to, anyway.) 

 

But above all, Chanyeol’s just glad that Kyungsoo really is a good person, a very good friend even though Chanyeol still doesn’t know where Kyungsoo came from and how he ended up at the rock four day ago. Those thoughts don’t occupy Chanyeol’s mind much, because all he ever thinks about whenever he’s alone is when does Kyungsoo has to leave. Chanyeol doesn’t like that thought at all because something dawns on him as he helps Kyungsoo to carefully fold the tails and place them back into the chests after a delightful morning of pretend-swimming on the floor with half-worn tails. 

 

Chanyeol doesn’t want his friend to go. Chanyeol might never want Kyungsoo to leave. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Kyungsoo has never once thought of himself as a person who relishes skin contact with another. He’s the least inept member of the Royal family, with Eldest Brother Minseok coming in a close second, when it comes to initiating interaction with others. His father and his other brothers, Lu Han and Sehun, are well-versed in the art of striking up conversations, though, it must be mentioned that, not many can withstand the resting bitchface of Third Brother Sehun as the conversations drag on. (Kyungsoo highly suspects that Sehun does that to drastically shorten interactions.) 

 

But he’s proving himself so, so,  _ so _ wrong with whatever he’s been doing thus far. And he’s been at it for quite a while now, if the evening breeze blowing gently at them is an indication of the time passed. It’s been almost four hours since Kyungsoo had himself dragged towards the beach by Chanyeol who had insisted on having a picnic right at the entrance of the steps. Chanyeol had actually suggested having it by the rock where they met (or more of like where Chanyeol  _ found  _ Kyungsoo), but Kyungsoo vehemently refused. Who knew if there would be  _ extras  _ (for example, a fish and a crab) spying on them. 

 

And that is how Kyungsoo finds himself nursing a bloated tummy, both hands rubbing at it as though the action will help with digestion, while his head is comfortably resting on Chanyeol’s lap. 

 

Yes, you read that correctly.  _ On Chanyeol’s lap. _

 

It hadn’t been easy for Kyungsoo, mind you, to reach this stage. He had gone through a couple of stages to get here, from gathering up perhaps his entire life’s worth of courage to lay his head upon Chanyeol’s shoulder while eating his sandwich, to awkwardly asking-gesturing for mouthfuls of Chanyeol’s food, and to offering his own to Chanyeol. Not to mention a number of failed attempts in trying to get Chanyeol to notice his lips. 

 

Yes, you read that correctly again.  _ His lips. _

 

Kyungsoo needs a backup plan to save himself, just in case Yixing can’t make the antidote in time, and he intends to heed Jongdae’s advice. Which is the reason why Kyungsoo’s behaving so affectionately towards Chanyeol. To get the human to fall in love with him, kiss him, and prevent Kyungsoo from disappearing into bubbles. 

 

It might seem really selfish to others, but Kyungsoo knows very well that he has to do this. Besides, he likes Chanyeol. Has been liking him for almost six years now, so, in a rather twisted sense of logic, the effect of the potion is somewhat a trigger for Kyungsoo to ‘court’ Chanyeol. Except he has a little more than a day left to achieve it. 

 

But Kyungsoo isn’t one to give up without a fight. He hasn’t survived almost eighteen years while growing up with three older brothers for naught, y’know. Doing actions that are out of his character is peanuts compared to the antics he has to put up with everyday. It is no wonder that the Youngest Prince is resilient, determined, and strong-willed. 

 

And that is exactly why Kyungsoo kept exaggerating his chewing actions, to draw attention to his lips. Unfortunately, while Kyungsoo did observe how Chanyeol’s eyes occasionally dropped to his lips, there’s nothing about Chanyeol’s behaviour that showed his interest. 

 

Despite having thought to himself that  _ Poseidon has abandoned me _ , Kyungsoo continued to initiate skin contact with Chanyeol. Which brings us back to the current situation of Kyungsoo rubbing his protruding tummy with his head on Chanyeol’s lap. Kyungsoo is facing towards the sea, so he doesn’t know what Chanyeol is doing or where he’s looking at. But if the telltale warmth that he’s feeling on his face is any indication, Kyungsoo is guessing that Chanyeol’s staring at him. Kyungsoo likes it, as long as he doesn’t have to return the favour. 

 

“You alright?” A deep but soft whisper comes from above him and even though Kyungsoo can feel the genuine (what about Chanyeol isn’t genuine, honestly) concern in Chanyeol’s question causing his traitor cheeks to colour, Kyungsoo nods. He continues to rub at his stomach, the discomfort of a slight indigestion still refusing to leave his body. Kyungsoo frowns, but he mentally apologises to the waters that protect his underwater home for it’s not its fault that a frown is on his face; the sunset is really beautiful and Kyungsoo really feels happy to be able to watch the sun slowly set while being in the company of Chanyeol but his hurting tummy and the fact that he has only one more day to get Chanyeol to kiss him weigh heavily on his mind and Kyungsoo just can’t find it in himself to smile. 

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t even registers that he’s crying until he feels himself being pulled up into a sitting position, warmth rapidly spreading around his face, but the warmth is not his own. He only knows of its source after he snaps out of his daze to find Chanyeol gazing at him with so much worry and concern swirling in his eyes. Kyungsoo can see tears welling up in his eyes and he unconsciously blinks. The wetness he expects to feel doesn’t arrive. He feels calloused skin grazing his cheeks instead. 

 

“Why are you crying, Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol asks, and Kyungsoo feels calloused skin grazing his cheeks again. He belatedly realises, after glancing as downwards as he can, that Chanyeol’s hands are cupping his face and the calloused skin he’s been feeling is that of Chanyeol’s thumbs. Kyungsoo wills his face to not betray him. But it’s hard, especially when Chanyeol is thumbing his tears away and gazing at him so darn worriedly and his voice is so low and soft and  _ warm _ . “I thought you said you were alright?” 

 

_ I am alright _ , Kyungsoo thinks,  _ but the circumstances are not _ . And that thought alone is enough to cause Kyungsoo’s floodgates to open once more, their speed rendering Chanyeol’s thumbs useless in their attempts to wipe away the seemingly never-ending streaks of tears. Through his blurry vision, Kyungsoo sees the change of Chanyeol’s expression, notices the addition of frustration creeping onto his face. He feels a little guilty for causing that, but his tears won’t stop no matter how hard he tries. 

 

“I wish I knew the reason as to why you’re crying so I can make you stop, but I don’t.” Chanyeol’s at it again, the low baritone of his voice wreaking havoc on Kyungsoo and making his insides go all weird and  _ oh Poseidon please help me  _ for Chanyeol’s face has somehow edged close to Kyungsoo’s face and even though his vision is super blurry, Kyungsoo can make out the position of Chanyeol’s lips and  _ have mercy on me Poseidon _ ; Kyungsoo can feel every breath Chanyeol is exhaling on his own pair of lips. 

 

“So what do I have to do to make you stop crying, Kyungsoo?” 

 

_ Kiss me _ , Kyungsoo’s mind very oh-so-helpfully supplies and Kyungsoo has never been so grateful to have no voice for he knows that his lips have formed the two words but if Chanyeol’s brief expression of confusion means anything, it probably means that he didn’t catch it. 

 

“Did you say something?” 

 

Kyungsoo hastily shakes his head, but unconsciously slides his bottom lip out into a pout. He returns to his head to its original position fast enough to catch the way Chanyeol’s eyes dart downwards and to breathe in the shaky breath that Chanyeol has exhaled due to something that Kyungsoo hasn’t comprehended. He watches Chanyeol’s eyes, sees how they’re fixated upon something on his face and,  _ oh _ . Is Chanyeol’s face drawing nearer and nearer and Kyungsoo feels something warmer than Chanyeol’s breaths grazing his–

 

“We should go.” The warmth vanishes from Kyungsoo’s lips and face, and after feeling Chanyeol’s hands gently wipe at his eyes, Kyungsoo’s vision sharpens to find that Chanyeol is now seated a foot away. His face is far from Kyungsoo’s, and his lips are equally far away as well. “It’s already dark and I think Yura would be wondering where we are.” 

 

Kyungsoo knows that he shouldn’t feel disappointed, and he tries to keep it from showing as he helps Chanyeol pack up. Throughout the entire way of Kyungsoo trailing behind Chanyeol as they make their way back inside TSP, depositing the basket in the kitchens along the way, not once does Chanyeol turn back to see if Kyungsoo’s behind him. Not once does Chanyeol look his way as they slip into Chanyeol’s bed, Chanyeol immediately turning away from Kyungsoo which leaves Kyungsoo staring at the expanse of Chanyeol’s back.

 

Kyungsoo knows that he shouldn’t feel disappointed. 

 

But he is. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didnt mean to make soo cry on chapter 12 guys. 
> 
> by the way, if anyone has info about exordium in bkk, dont hesitate to [tweet](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits) me about it!


	13. Tail 13

_ All dripping in tangles green, _

_ Cast up by a lonely sea, _

_ If purer for that, O Weed, _

_ Bitterer, too, are ye? _

 

_ — The Tuft of Kelp ; Herman Melville _

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


Chanyeol wakes up to find Kyungsoo’s side of the bed empty. His eyes weren’t even opened when he subconsciously slid a hand over with practiced ease, tips of his fingers expecting to meet with soft fabric or smooth skin. Instead, they met with air. It’s then does Chanyeol’s eyes snap open, immediately darting over and Chanyeol will be lying if he says that he’s not suddenly overwhelmed by fear at seeing the empty space where his friend ought to be. 

 

His fear grows and steadily gnaws away at his insides as Chanyeol frantically throws himself out of his room — after combing through it and making a mess of his belongings — to widen his search for his missing friend. Chanyeol sprints through the hallways and throws open every single door he can find. He tears through the palace, leaving a piece of his sanity in each room he searches but doesn’t find Kyungsoo in it. Chanyeol is almost at his wits end,  _ this  _ close to breaking down until he slinks back to his room, traipses to the balcony, wanting to let the sea breeze take away the immense worry only to have his eyes instinctively dart over to the rock. 

 

And someone is sitting there.

 

Chanyeol has never found the shade of fiery red so attractive until now. 

 

He quickly spins around, dashing over to the door, and Chanyeol would have bumped into someone if not for his quick evasive reflexes. He still stumbles backwards and falls on his buttocks, though. 

 

“You alright, baby brother?” Yura’s voice wafts into Chanyeol’s ears. He lifts his head up to see his sister looking down at him with a poorly concealed smirk threatening to spoil her expression of concern, but accepts her extended hand anyway and allows her to pull him up to his feet. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

 

Chanyeol dusts his shorts and straightens himself. “Uh, I thought I lost Kyungsoo but turns out he’s at the rock so I’m just gonna…” He points over Yura’s head and makes a move to sidestep past her, only to be stopped by Yura’s outstretched arms. “Yura!” Chanyeol immediately whines. 

 

“I want to talk to you about something,” Yura says, blatantly ignoring her brother’s whines as she effortlessly drags Chanyeol over to his bed and sits down. “Sit.” Yura gestures to the space next to her. “Do you need me to manhandle you down, Chanyeol?” 

 

Seeing how serious Yura’s facial expression is, Chanyeol has no choice and he sits, but he makes it known that he’s here reluctantly with a loud sigh. Chanyeol earns himself a light smack on the arm. 

 

“You’re making it seem that I’m keeping you here against your will!” Yura exclaims, rolling her eyes when Chanyeol casts her  _ you think  _ look, earning himself another smack. “Kyungsoo will be fine, baby brother. I saw him taking Jongin out after he had his breakfast.” 

 

“Fine,” Chanyeol replies, tilting his head slightly downwards to watch his fingers wrestling with one another. “I suppose Jongin can keep him company until I can make my way down to them, which reminds me,” Chanyeol lifts his head up and turns to Yura. “What do you want to talk about, Yura?” 

 

Yura looks at Chanyeol for a few moments, both siblings blinking their eyes as they stare at each other. At Chanyeol’s sudden head tilt, Yura finally speaks, “I… wanted to talk to you about that marriage proposal from the neighbouring kingdom.” 

 

Darkness descends upon Chanyeol’s face instantly. “There’s nothing to talk about.” He turns away from Yura and drops his head again. His fingers resume their wrestling. “I am not marrying that princess and there is nothing father can do about it.” 

 

“I know,” Yura replies, her voice soft and she tries to make herself as harmless as possible because she knows how averse Chanyeol is to that sudden proposal and the last thing Yura wants is to provoke Chanyeol and make things worse. “I heard about it from father.” 

 

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything, just stays silent and continues to play with his fingers. His mood isn’t lightened up at all. 

 

“If you want the proposal to be called off, you have to provide a compelling reason to justify your objection, Chanyeol.” 

 

Chanyeol scoffs, “And what reason can I provide? That I like someone else? Will father even accept that?”

 

“He might,” Yura quickly answers, and she reaches out to envelop Chanyeol’s hands with her own. She realises that they’re trembling. She grips them harder. “If you actually do have someone you like, and you brought that person to him.” 

 

An image of Chanyeol standing next to a shorter figure with an unidentifiable face instantly flashes through Chanyeol’s mind but he bats it away and slips his hands out of his sister’s grasp. “I… don’t think he’d like it. He’ll still force me to marry–”

 

“You know father isn’t like that. You know that father always gives people chances,” Yura rebuts and grabs Chanyeol’s hands again. They’re still trembling. She tightens her grip. “You know that father will give the person that you like a chance, so why?” Yura tilts Chanyeol’s face up with a finger and she urges Chanyeol to look at her by pointedly edging her face right in front of his. 

 

“Why are you giving up without trying?” 

 

Yura’s gaze is strong and Chanyeol can’t find it in himself to tear his eyes away. Similarly, the warmth that’s enveloping his hands are familiar and Chanyeol vaguely recalls the last time his sister held his hands at their mother’s funeral; they were warm and reassuring. Chanyeol had never felt so blessed to have Yura as his sister. 

 

And this time, it’s the same. The heat from Yura’s hands are surging upwards to Chanyeol’s mind and the light from the flame is dispelling the doubts in his head, filling in the empty holes with her reassurance. The darkness surrounding Chanyeol gradually vanishes. 

 

“Are you still going to give up, Yeol?” Yura gently asks, a small smile forming on her face. “Nothing stopped you from getting a tail made when you were young, even though our parents expressed their disbelief and a tad of embarrassment at their son being so obsessed with merpeople, so what’s stopping you now?” 

 

Yura’s smile is infectious, and a corner of Chanyeol’s lips twitches. He lets it rise, a smirk playing across his lips in no time. “Nothing. Nothing is going to stop me.” 

 

Chanyeol stands, his back impeccably straight and chest puffed out in determination. He feels Yura’s proud gaze on his back as he strides towards the door, only to pause in his steps when he hears Yura calling out to him. He spins around. 

 

“You’ve grown into a wonderful prince, baby brother.” 

 

The smile on Chanyeol’s face is dazzling. “I know. Thanks, sis.”

 

“You’re welcome. Now, go! Talk to father then proceed to the rock for your damsel!” 

 

The horror on Chanyeol’s face is legendary. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Kyungsoo glances up at TSP’s only balcony. It’s empty. He soundlessly sighs, dropping his head to rest his forehead on his knees. His arms come around to wrap themselves around his legs and he closes his eyes. Bad idea. 

 

For a split second later, Kyungsoo finds himself toppling over to the side, courtesy of Jongin. Kyungsoo hadn’t wanted to take the dog (he learnt the term from Chanyeol after gesturing to the goldie with a confused expression) out with him when he had decided to take a walk after breakfast, but at the thought of being all alone, Kyungsoo hecked it and proceeded to Jongin’s room. He had kind of regretted it the moment he opened the door and Jongin had snapped his head up and instantly bounded over to him, almost knocking the poor merman off his feet. 

 

Kyungsoo regrets it even more now. He tries to sit up, but it’s hard to do so when you have a dog who’s about the same size as you draped all over your side. Jongin’s lolling tongue is dangerously close to Kyungsoo’s face. Kyungsoo gulps, the fear of being slobbered growing within him. It wasn’t nice to have to wash drool off your body. It wasn’t nice  _ at all _ . 

 

Which is why Kyungsoo resigns to his fate. He gives up trying to sit up, and allows Jongin’s furry body to be his blanket. Kyungsoo lays his head on the surface of the rock, having climbed onto it with a little difficulty. He had told himself that he was not awed by Jongin effortlessly leaping onto the rock and getting onto it in a single try. Kyungsoo failed, and rewarded the dog’s effort with a belly rub. 

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes flutter shut, as he listens to the sounds around him, of waves crashing onto the shore and receding back to the sea; of gulls flying overhead; of Jongin’s occasional pant; and of a sudden splash that’s suspiciously near him–

 

“Soo!”  

 

And that familiar voice that had called his name– 

 

“Oi, Do Kyungsoo!”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open and his best friend’s grinning face greets him from the spot Kyungsoo has subconsciously darted his eyes to. Kyungsoo’s face breaks out into a smile immediately. He waves cheerily, before gesturing to Jongin who’s still acting as his blanket. 

 

Baekhyun swims closer. “What’s that thing on you, Kyungsoo?” 

 

_ It’s a dog _ , Kyungsoo mouths, and he stifles a giggle when Baekhyun says, “A log? That doesn’t look like a dead tree to me, Soo.” 

 

Kyungsoo lightly shakes his head, giving up on trying to have Baekhyun pronounce  _ dog  _ correctly instead of  _ log cog bog nog  _ and whatever  _ og  _ Baekhyun’s nonsensically babbled. It’s no wonder Baekhyun’s language grades are dismal in school. Kyungsoo changes the topic, and mimes a crab instead and he thanks Poseidon when Baekhyun understands and says, “Jongdae? He’s at Yixing’s. Said something about supervising.”

 

_ Okay _ , Kyungsoo offers in reply and he listens to Baekhyun rant about his family which reminds him.  _ Is father looking for me?  _

 

Baekhyun looks thoughtful, but he shakes his head and Kyungsoo instantly feels disappointed, then relieved. “I don’t know how Jongdae’s doing it but he’s making the King believe that you’re throwing a really long tantrum about being banned from coming up to The Surface, and that is why you’re refusing any form of contact with anyone.” 

 

Kyungsoo nods, but the disappointment shows on his face and Baekhyun sees it. He quickly adds, “But your father is really worried, Soo. And if it helps, he visits your room at night, never stepping in though, only remaining at the door as he watches the lump on your bed.” 

 

_ Lump?  _

 

“It’s actually a huge pillow that Jongdae got from somewhere and shoved under your blanket come night to show that you’re in your bed and not off elsewhere. The King would throw a fit then and what can Jongdae do when that happens?” 

 

_ I’d be dead.  _

 

“Exactly,” Baekhyun agrees, mimicking Kyungsoo’s slice across his neck. “The King’s gonna come up and demand for you and I don’t know if The Surface King is going to be happy about that.” 

 

Kyungsoo shrugs, and the topic is forgotten when Baekhyun restarts his rant about his family and after Baekhyun bids goodbye some time later, saying something about  _ going to go get that antidote from Yixing and coming back with Jongdae _ , Kyungsoo sighs. It was nice to have Baekhyun with him for a little while. Now, Kyungsoo feels lonely again. 

 

And even though he gingerly threads his fingers through Jongin’s soft fur, earning himself low whimpers which he supposes are emitted out of satisfaction, Kyungsoo still feels lonely, and afraid. It is the last day after all. If Kyungsoo can’t get the antidote or a kiss from Chanyeol, he’s going to disappear. 

 

Kyungsoo knows for sure that he’s screwed. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Despite requesting for an audience with his father shortly after finishing his breakfast, Chanyeol only gets to see his father just before dinnertime. He hadn’t known that his father can be this busy, attributing his surprise to the numerous times he’s actually seen his father milling around in the hallways or in the library with a book on his lap. Of all days to be bombarded by work, it has to be  _ this day _ . Chanyeol doesn’t know if he should feel angry or blame himself for his unluckiness. 

 

He enters his father’s room, after being called by the King’s butler, and Chanyeol sees his father sitting on the window ledge with his legs crossed. There’s nothing kingly about the image and Chanyeol chuckles softly to himself as he traipses across the room and joins his father. 

 

“Chanyeol!” Joonmyeon exclaims. “You’re here! Sorry for seeing you this late. Today has been really busy…” 

 

“It’s alright.” Chanyeol smiles, but it vanishes a second later. “I’m here to talk to you about the proposal, father.” 

 

The seriousness of Chanyeol’s tone draws Joonmyeon’s attention and he willingly gives it to his son. “I’m listening.”

 

“The reason,” Chanyeol begins. “For me rejecting that proposal is because… because…” Oh no. His mind is going blank. He’s getting a little tongue-tied and his bravado is seeping out of him.  _ Oh Poseidon please help– _

 

Chanyeol feels warmth on his knee and he sees his father’s hand rubbing small circles on the joint. Joonmyeon doesn’t need to say anything, but Chanyeol gets it and he’s instantly calmed down. He inhales.

 

“The reason that I’m rejecting that proposal is because I like–”

 

A deafening screech suddenly pierces Chanyeol’s ears and he jumps in place, hands flying up to cover his ears. The confused expression on Joonmyeon’s face is mirrored on his own but the confusion gives way to fear the moment he looks out through the window and sees something he’s never seen before. 

 

For out in the big blue stands a humongous creature. Chanyeol had never seen anything like it. His books have never once mentioned anything about monstrous sea creatures suddenly appearing in the seas. The terror Chanyeol’s feeling is justified, and his fear doesn't disappear, only grows exponentially, when he runs to his room, throws himself onto the balcony and immediately snaps his eyes to the rock– 

 

–only to find that Kyungsoo isn't there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i did not mean to end at a cliffhanger and then tell you guys that i will be away on a vacation so there will be no updates until i get back and no i don't want to tell when i'll be back so HAVE FUN WAITING MUAHAHAHAHAH (okay no jen is sorry don't bash her please)
> 
> until then, i'll be on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits).


	14. Tail 14

_ The people along the sand _

_ All turn and look one way. _

_ They turn their back on the land. _

_ They look at the sea all day. _

 

_ As long as it takes to pass _

_ A ship keeps raising its hull; _

_ The wetter ground like glass _

_ Reflects a standing gull. _

 

_ The land may vary more; _

_ But wherever the truth may be – _

_ The water comes ashore, _

_ And the people look at the sea. _

 

_ They cannot look out far. _

_ They cannot look in deep. _

_ But when was that ever a bar _

_ To any watch they keep? _

 

_ — Neither Out Far Nor In Deep ; Robert Frost _

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

The sharp spike of pain that travels up from Chanyeol’s bare feet momentarily immobilises the prince, his entire body crouching downwards as he massages his soles that are exposed to the heated grains of sand that greet him the moment he jumps off the steps that leads to the beach from the palace. Chanyeol spies several small shells in the sand around him, unearthed by the impact of his jump and he mentally laments why he thought foregoing shoes was a good idea. 

 

In his defense, Chanyeol’s heart gently supplies that  _ ensuring Kyungsoo’s safety is far more important than the time taken to wear my shoes to prevent cuts on my feet _ . What can Chanyeol’s mind say to retort when Chanyeol always has been one to follow his heart in everything that he does? 

 

Which is why, after seeing that his soles aren't bleeding, Chanyeol quickly picks himself and dashes over to the rock. As he had seen from his balcony, there's no one there. There's no Kyungsoo, no Jongin. Chanyeol has never felt so frightened since he was a wee lad when he almost drowned while attempting to swim with his tail for the first time. But he knows for sure that this surpasses that for sure, even though Chanyeol knows he's not in danger. 

 

A deafening screech snaps Chanyeol out of his daze, startling him and he jumps in the air, shrieking. The act has his cheeks colouring in embarrassment but he slaps himself out of it and darts his eyes towards the noise. 

 

Chanyeol finally takes a good look at the creature. 

 

It has a figure of a man; chest, arms, and a neck. Chanyeol doesn't let his eyes wander upwards, deciding to save the possibly ugly head for the last. He trails his eyes downwards instead, only to feel them widening because  _ is that… a tail? A mertail…?  _

 

It looks exactly like the illustrations in the books Chanyeol have read as a child and over the years. It is also looks exactly like how Chanyeol’s waist meet with the opening of his tailor-made tail. The skin of the monster’s waist is seamlessly merged with the beginning of the tail, pale flesh meeting with a gorgeous shade of green, and as Chanyeol’s eyes follow the curves of the tail, he finds himself in awe. Which shouldn't be happening because  _ oi, it's a monster!  _

 

But Chanyeol’s merperson-obsessed mind is thinking none of that. It's controlling Chanyeol’s eyes, making them hungrily take in the details of the tail, and Chanyeol literally drools when he finally sees the end of the tail. A simply beautiful fin greets him. The green has significantly lightened, as compared to the rest of the tail, but it's still pretty nonetheless. Even under the ominous dark clouds, which Chanyeol only meets during terribly bad storms, the tail is shimmering. Chanyeol is smitten. By a monster’s tail. He is so–

 

Another screech. And Chanyeol realises that he's once again in another daze. He groans.  _ For the love of Poseidon _ , can't he just stay on task for one second?! Which is what Chanyeol does, bringing his eyes up to the monster’s neck and with an inhale, Chanyeol looks upwards. 

 

His eyes might just pop out of their sockets. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ “Kyungsoo!” _

 

_ Father? _

 

_ “Soo! Can you hear us? Kyungsoo!” _

 

_ Baekhyun? Is that you, Baekhyun?  _

 

_ “Sehun! This is all your fault–” _

 

_ “How is  _ this  _ my fault! Minseok, you can't accuse me like this!”  _

 

_ Eldest Brother Minseok… and Third Brother Sehun? Why am I hearing you? Why am I hearing them?  _

 

_ And why can't I see anything?  _

 

_ “Yifan, we have to stop him.”  _

 

_ “I know; but we have to talk to the humans of The Surface first. I have a feeling that Joonmyeon’s going to deploy his navy.”  _

 

_ It's Jongdae! But… who is this ‘him’ that he's talking about? And how does father know the name of Chanyeol’s father?  _

 

_ “Lu Han’s on his way with Yixing, father.” _

 

_ “Okay, we’ll stall for time until Yixing can tell us what to do.”  _

 

_ Huh? Do what? And why do they need Yixing? Did something happen?  _

 

_ “I'll distract him, Your Highness, but I'm afraid that it won't be enough–” _

 

_ “I'll assist young Byun, Yifan.”  _

 

_ “Thanks, Jongdae. The rest of you help them as well.” _

 

_ “Yes, father.”  _

 

_ Why… am I hearing the voices of Baekhyun, of Jongdae, of my father, and of my brothers? But why can't I see them? Why am I in this darkness?  _

 

_ What is happening to me? _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Chanyeol!” 

 

Joonmyeon's voice slices through the loud roars of the monster, and effectively reaches Chanyeol’s ears. He whips his head towards the call of his name and runs over to his father who beckons him from the steps of the backdoor. “Yes, father?” 

 

“I need you to command a couple of ships,” Joonmyeon instructs, pointing towards the large ships on the waters. Chanyeol hadn’t seen them appear, and realises that he must have gone into a daze yet  _ again _ . But he doesn’t have time to chide himself, for Joonmyeon is pushing Chanyeol towards the small fleet. “Don’t attack unless it attacks first, but judging by its angry face, I think it’s going to attack very soon.” 

 

Chanyeol snaps his head towards the  _ it  _ that Joonmyeon is talking about, and inexplicably feels an unknown emotion that tugs at his heartstrings. He takes in, once more, the facial features of the creature, and almost,  _ almost  _ wants to tell his father that he can’t, that he  _ won’t _ attack it. 

 

Because– Because  _ why does the monster look so much like Kyungsoo?  _

 

Having seen Kyungsoo daily for the past few weeks, Chanyeol thinks he knows very well,  _ extremely  _ well, how Kyungsoo looks like. Fiery red hair. Caterpillar brows.  Cute button nose. A pair of heart-shaped lips. But all of these features belong to human Kyungsoo, Chanyeol’s  _ friend _ . 

 

So, why? Why does he see those features on the monster’s head?  _ Why am I beginning to think that the monster might be Kyungsoo? What in the seven seas is happening?! _

 

Chanyeol would have fallen into yet another daze if not for a yelp that suspiciously sounds like his father’s, and when he reluctantly tears his eyes away from the monster’s face, Chanyeol can’t hold back the loud gasp that slips past his lips. For a creature that he has only seen and read about in books is currently making its way towards them, or more specifically, his father. 

 

“Father…?” Chanyeol watches Joonmyeon take small, cautious steps towards the shoreline. His father’s face would have made him burst out into laughter if he hadn’t realised that his father seems to recognise, or know even, the creature that is now right at the edge of where sea meets sand. “Father! Where are you–”

 

“I’m alright, son!” Joonmyeon answers, but he doesn’t turn back. He seems bent on making his way towards the creature. Chanyeol doesn’t know what to do, but his protective instincts kick in and he dashes over as well. He barely manages to fling an arm in front of his father when Joonmyeon suddenly blurts out, “He’s my friend!” 

 

Chanyeol’s arm immediately drops. “What?” 

 

“He’s… my friend,” Joonmyeon breathes out, finally turning to face his son, whose expression holds so much confusion that Joonmyeon finds it endearing, and would have pinched his cheeks if not for the more pressing matter at hand. “Chanyeol, I’d like you to meet–”

 

“Hello, Chanyeol. I’m Wu Yifan, the King of The Ocean.” 

 

Chanyeol has never snapped his head in a direction so quickly before. He’s surprised that the bones in his neck haven’t snapped into pieces. But he’s more surprised at the fact that the creature just  _ talked  _ to him. 

 

“And, I’m sorry for asking this of you on our first meeting, but I need your help.” 

 

“H-Help?” Chanyeol doesn’t know if he’s answering the creature or stammering out his own plea because  _ what in the seven seas MERPEOPLE DO EXIST!?!?!?!  _ Chanyeol’s also surprised that he hasn’t passed out yet. 

 

“Yes.” The creature purses his lips and Chanyeol finds the expression rather scary, and also rather familiar. But the thought is pushed to the back of his head the moment he hears the creature continue. 

 

“I need you to save Kyungsoo.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so lotto dropped and jen is not okay guys. she is _not okay_ , not at all. soo sitting on sehun's knee, lap, thigh, whatever is not okay too. 
> 
> ps, my luck with exo comebacks seems to be amazing haha i managed to catch their lotto comeback for about a day while i was in seoul for vacation last week lolol. 
> 
>  
> 
> pps, come see my amazing room at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits)
> 
> ppps, updating early because i'll be busy tomorrow lolol and yall know how i always update on sundays ^^
> 
> pppps, welcome me back with applause guys HAHAHAHA OKAY NO DON'T


	15. Tail 15

_ Sunset and evening star, _

_ And one clear call for me! _

_ And may there be no moaning of the bar, _

_ When I put out to sea, _

 

_ But such a tide as moving seems asleep, _

_ Too full for sound and foam, _

_ When that which drew from out the boundless deep _

_ Turns home again. _

 

_ Twilight and evening bell, _

_ And after that the dark! _

_ And may there be no sadness of farewell, _

_ When I embark; _

 

_ For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place _

_ The floor may bear me far, _

_ I hope to see my Pilot face to face _

_ When I have crost the bar. _

 

_ — Crossing the Bar ; Alfred, Lord Tennyson _

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


_ “Soo! Can you hear me?”  _

 

_ “Kyungsoo, can you hear us?”  _

 

_ It’s Baekhyun again, and Jongdae too.  _

 

_ “If you can hear us, please stop roaring! It’s really loud and I–”  _

 

_ “Young Byun! You’re not helping the situation!”  _

 

_ “But, Jongdae! Soo’s really loud and my ears–” _

 

_ Huh…? Why is Baekhyun asking me to stop roaring? I’m not doing anything but closing my eyes and opening them only to find that I’m still in this darkness. So what does he mean by me being loud? _

 

_ “Baekhyun! Jongdae!”  _

 

_ “Yixing! You’re here!”  _

 

_ Yixing… is here too? Can I talk to him? I want to ask why I’m in the darkness and why I can’t see anything but hear the voices of my family and friends.  _

 

_ “I’ve just spoken to the King about the effects of the potion I accidentally gave to Kyungsoo, so now I’m going to say it to you guys.”   _

 

_ Effects of the potion he accidentally gave to me? Aren't I supposed to disappear into bubbles? Have I already disappeared into bubbles? Is this why I'm in this darkness instead of on the rock? Oh no. Where's Jong– _

 

_ “Instead of turning into bubbles, Kyungsoo has turned into a monster instead, and the only thing that can turn him back is an act performed to him by his one true love.”  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“You're friends with the King of The Ocean?!” 

 

“Chanyeol, I don't think now is the right time to–”

 

“But father! If you knew that merpeople exist, why didn't you ever tell me?” Chanyeol wails, throwing his hands up in frustration. “I could have met a merperson, a  _ real  _ merperson!”

 

Yifan, who's witnessing the breakdown of a human for, though, not the first time, is still very much amused. He gives Joonmyeon a pointed look, and barely manages to bite back his laughter when the King of The Surface rolls his eyes. 

 

“Chanyeol…” Joonmyeon sighs, embarrassed. “Now really isn't the time to be hung up about this! Yifan has–”

 

At the mention of his name, Yifan gets the hint, and promptly clears his throat. It gets the attention of Chanyeol, who immediately stops throwing his mini tantrum to timidly affix his eyes upon the King (that's not his father). 

 

“As mentioned just now, I need your help, Chanyeol.”

 

Chanyeol bites on his lower lip, but lets it go to gingerly say, “To save... Kyungsoo, right?”

 

Yifan's nod cements Chanyeol’s suspicion of the monster being Kyungsoo, and he feels whatever energy he has in him drain out of him.  _ So it's really true, then. Something must has happened to Kyungsoo for him to have turned into a monster.  _

 

“What does Chanyeol have to do to save your son, Yifan?” Joonmyeon pipes up, a worried expression forming on his face. “And why does it have to be him? Can’t  _ you  _ do something on your own?” Chanyeol senses the fatherly instinct of protectiveness and smiles. He places a hand, albeit awkwardly, on his father’s shoulder and squeezes it gently. 

 

Reckoning that the King of The Ocean ought to have had thought of a plan, Chanyeol decides to answer for the merman instead. “Don’t worry, father. I’m sure I will be safe no matter what I have to do. And I suppose that your friend has his own reason for requesting for my help since I know...” He doesn’t look at Joonmyeon, and instead looks at Monster Kyungsoo, who’s still out in the waters roaring and swinging his arms about. He hasn’t moved an inch and Chanyeol wonders if his–  _ I mean _ the  _ real  _ Kyungsoo is preventing the monster instinct in him from destruction. He hopes that it is true, that somewhere in that monstrous body still lies the real Kyungsoo. 

 

“Besides, Kyungsoo wouldn’t hurt me.”  _ I guess. _

 

Joonmyeon sighs, but nods his assent anyway. A grateful smile graces Yifan’s face and the ocean King pats his friend’s other shoulder in gratitude. “Don’t worry, Joon, I’ll keep your son safe. I promise.” Then he turns to Chanyeol. “Ready, boy?” 

 

Chanyeol is still looking at Kyungsoo. But he acknowledges Yifan’s question with a determined nod. “Ready.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ One… true love.  _

 

_ I know who my love is. I know that my love for him is true and that I’d only love him but I don’t know if he feels the same. I don’t think he does. He probably doesn’t, probably only sees me as a friend, the boy by the rock, the boy who can’t speak. The boy whom he will never love.  _

 

_ I’m going to remain as a monster forever, but I don’t want to harm anyone or destroy anything so how? How can I go back to being a merman if there’s nothing I can do to save myself?  _

 

_ If there’s no one who can save me?  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“So.” Chanyeol glances down at the tiny vial sitting in his palm, eyes narrowing at the sight of the reddish-orange liquid stored within. While Chanyeol has never been told to not accept objects given by strangers, he has enough common sense to know that he probably shouldn’t drink this. Who knows what would happen to him if he does. And even though the first merperson he’s ever seen in his life ( _ oh wait, does Kyungsoo count? _ ) is the one who had placed it in his hand, telling him that drinking it will enable him to speak with sea creatures, Chanyeol’s still sceptical. 

 

“Drink it,” Yifan says, chin jerking towards the vial that Chanyeol is now pinching between his thumb and index. Having lived with a king for all his life, Chanyeol hears authority when he hears it. And he hears  _ much  _ of it in the Ocean King’s words. He’s not  _ saying  _ it, he’s  _ ordering  _ for it. And having lived with a king for all his life, Chanyeol knows when to obey when he has to. But it’s not without difficulty. Chanyeol pulls the cork out with a shaky hand, and eyeballs the potion. In his peripheral field of vision, he sees a blurry image of a yellow body and a red one bobbing behind his vial. They’re the reason he has to drink this… whatever this is. They’d better be worth it. 

 

Chanyeol downs the liquid in one shot, surprise shooting through him as he tastes tomato soup on his tongue. It’s utterly delicious, and Chanyeol regrets tilting his head all the way back in an attempt to not let any of the supposedly vile liquid touch his tongue. Darn it. Chanyeol’s expression must have betrayed his thoughts for he hears chuckles from around him and a voice saying, “Look at the regret written all over his face; human must have realised how delicious Yixing’s potions actually are.” 

 

It takes Chanyeol a couple of seconds to realise that it wasn’t Yifan who spoke, nor was it that octopus creature with a human torso because he had heard him talking to Yifan about the potion that Chanyeol has just ingested. Which means… 

 

“The potion must have worked if he’s looking at us like we’re man-eating sea creatures.” 

 

“D-Did that yellow f-fish just–” Chanyeol’s tripping over his words, an index shakily rising to point at the bobbing yellow body. 

 

“Yeah, I just did.” The fish says, flashing Chanyeol a smile —  _ can fishes even smile?!  _ — before turning to the red crab next to it. A fin is placed on the crab’s shell. “This crab here is Jongdae, and I’m Baekhyun. Oh, and if you’re wondering, I’m Soo’s best friend.” The smile on the fish — Baekhyun — grows a little wider. 

 

Talking to sea creatures should have felt weird to Chanyeol, should have thought that he’s gone insane, but somehow, Chanyeol feels inexplicably… at ease. He wonders if it’s because he was born at sea, and have always felt a strong connection to the big blue, and that everyone knows how he’s inept at everything that doesn’t have to do with the ocean. Is it because he’s read so many books on the ocean, has dreamt of encountering sea creatures and striking up conversations and going on adventures with them (when he was a wee lad) that Chanyeol has somehow attuned himself to accept anything that the ocean throws at him. Such as finally being able to converse with sea creatures (albeit sassy ones). 

 

It’s with this epiphany that has Chanyeol finally smiling, as he introduces himself to the motley crew of mermen, an octopus dude, a fish, and a crab, only for it to dim slightly when Baekhyun says that they know all about him. 

 

“Kyungsoo has been spying–”

 

“Lu Han!” 

 

“–fine–  _ talking  _ about you since he was twelve. So it’s no surprise to any of us.” 

 

Chanyeol just gapes, surprised (for the lack of a better word) at the information he heard. But he doesn’t have time to think over it for a bloodcurdling screech, that causes the goosebumps on Chanyeol’s skin to appear, reverberates around them. And Chanyeol whirls towards the noise just in time to see Kyungsoo bringing down an enormous clenched fist upon one of his father’s ships. The mast snaps. 

 

Kyungsoo is on the move. There’s no more time to waste. 

 

“Chanyeol.” Yifan’s voice, full of authority, travels to Chanyeol’s ears, but Chanyeol doesn’t need to be told. He knows what he has to do, even though he doesn’t know what he  _ actually  _ should do. Chanyeol thinks he’ll concoct a plan along the way, or if any of Kyungsoo’s family or friends have one he’ll just use theirs. Until then, he’s just going to wing it, going to do whatever he can to save Kyungsoo. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jen is now a stan of our reservoir idols chenbaekxi holy shit guys their ost for baek's drama is just (I HAVE NO WORDS I LOVE IT SO MUCH IVE BEEN REFRESHING THE PAGE FOR THE PAST HOUR) 
> 
> and, oh, soo's so — CHENBAEKXI OST UGH MY KOKORO — cute during the kang shifu fanmeet hehe 
> 
> but no, seriously, that ost does things to me ;;;;


	16. Tail 16

_ The sea of faith _

_ Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore _

_ Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl’d. _

_ But now I only hear  _

_ Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, _

_ Retreating, to the breath _

_ Of the night-winds, down the vast edges drear _

_ And naked shingles of the world. _

 

_ Ah, love, let us be true _

_ To one another! for the world, which seems _

_ To lie before us like a land of dreams, _

_ So various, so beautiful, so new, _

_ Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, _

_ Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; _

_ And we are here as on a darkling plain _

_ Swept with confus’d alarms of struggle and flight, _

_ Where ignorant armies clash by night. _

 

_ — Dover Beach ; Matthew Arnold _

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

There is no plan. None at all. 

 

And Chanyeol can’t help but squawk his exasperation, not in the least caring about the winces and flinches on his company’s faces. They deserve it. 

 

“I apologise, Chanyeol,” Yifan sincerely says. “When I went to you and your father, I was acting on a hunch after hearing Yixing’s words.” 

 

“And what were Yixing’s words?” Chanyeol turns to look at Yixing, who is glancing at the Ocean King and after receiving a slight nod, he says, “To cut the long story, which I suppose Kyungsoo will be the one to tell you when this is over, short, Kyungsoo is supposed to disappear into bubbles but he’s turned into a monster instead. And the only thing that can turn him back into a merman is an act by his one true love.” 

 

Chanyeol instantly feels everyone’s eyes on him. It’s uncomfortable, but he doesn’t feel perturbed as he should be feeling, which, once again, Chanyeol thinks he should attribute to his ocean-loving soul. He does, however, feels confused as to why everyone is looking at him expectantly, as though he’s supposed to do or say something. And Chanyeol does, in the form of a question. 

 

“And… where do I come in in this?” 

 

The pairs of eyes leave his body and Chanyeol is glad to feel a little respite from the overwhelming attention he’s not used to receiving. He may be a prince, but he doesn’t like attention, avoids it if he can. Chanyeol sweeps his eyes around him, noticing the exchanges amongst the sea dwellers. Anxiety seeps into him and he finds himself biting on his lower lip, teeth nibbling at cracked skin. 

 

Baekhyun seems to be the one that everyone has silently nominated to address Chanyeol’s question, for he swims slightly forward and tilts his head up to look at Chanyeol. “You… really don’t know anything?” 

 

Chanyeol tilts his head to the side. “Am I supposed to?” 

 

The anxiety in Chanyeol grows when Baekhyun nods his head. “I don’t know if you know this, but Kyungsoo… really likes you a lot. He likes you so much tha–”

 

“Baekhyun,” One of the mermen pipes up and Chanyeol momentarily looks away from Baekhyun to glance at him. His tail is in a pretty shade of pink, much like the colour of the hair on another one of Kyungsoo’s brothers whose tail is in a light shade of green which awfully resembles the hair colour on another one of Kyungsoo’s–  _ wait I see a pattern _ . “I would like for my youngest brother to confess on his own, thank you very much.” 

 

Chanyeol’s so delighted in his discovery of a certain pattern of the tails and hair colours of the mermen that he doesn’t hear what the merman had spoken about. He only manages to hear Baekhyun whine, “But Minseokkkkkk–” only to be silenced with a glare by the merman with the pink tail. 

 

“Fine,” Baekhyun grumbles, but soon snaps out of it to address Chanyeol once again. And Chanyeol knows that it’s serious stuff if the no-longer-smiling expression on the fish’s face is an indication. “To put it simply, Chanyeol, we think that you’re the ‘one true love’ that Yixing’s mentioned.” 

 

“B-But–”

 

“If you’re wondering why we’re not thinking that it’s any of us,” Baekhyun gestures to the rest of the sea dwellers. “It’s because even though we know that Kyungsoo loves us, and as we do to him, the love that he has for us is that of familial love. But the love that Kyungsoo has for you–” — Baekhyun gestures to Chanyeol — “–is none of that. It’s something more and I know that you know what I’m talking about because I hope, we all hope, that you feel the same way about him too.

 

“That you  _ love  _ our Kyungsoo as well.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ I shouldn’t have hit that ship.  _

 

_ But I couldn’t control myself. It’s as though something is controlling me, my body, my movements. And now, even as I can finally catch glimpses of the world that I used to see daily, I wish I didn’t have to see myself destroying things.  _

 

_ I wish... I hadn’t seen him all those years ago. Because if I hadn’t, none of this would happen. I wouldn’t have gone to Yixing, wouldn’t have drunk vials after vials of potion, wouldn’t have gone up to The Surface.  _

 

_ I wouldn’t have fallen more in love with him.  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


If Chanyeol could turn back time, he'd wish that he hadn't met Kyung– Okay no, he wouldn't. He wouldn't  _ dare  _ to even think of that. (Which shows just  _ how much  _ he likes him.) 

 

But if he had a choice, Chanyeol wants to know how he had come to develop feelings for Kyungsoo. Feelings that are beyond the sphere of friendship. Feelings that have surpassed the borders of fondness. Feelings that are no longer of affection, but of–

 

“Love?” 

 

Of all the words that Baekhyun has said, Chanyeol seems to have only caught that  _ one  _ word. And Baekhyun makes it known.

 

“I said so much but you only caught that word,” Baekhyun deadpans. “I hope that means you love him too, that you love our Kyungsoo too.” But at Chanyeol’s half-confused, half-dumbfounded expression, Baekhyun falters. “You… do love Soo, right?” 

 

Chanyeol is downright unsure. Does he actually love Kyungsoo? Or is it because he doesn’t have any friends in the palace or in the village, resulting in him spending all his time (both waking and sleeping) with his one and only friend, causing him to have thoughts that he likes, or loves, Kyungsoo? Then again, Chanyeol  _ had _ been inexplicably drawn to the redhead since he laid eyes on him. He still doesn’t know why he wants to befriend Kyungsoo at first, and also doesn’t comprehend why he’s always looked at the rock where Kyungsoo appeared at. Were the countless times he’d felt someone gazing at him done by Kyungsoo? Chanyeol has no idea and he now regrets not asking but then again, how can he go about asking that? 

 

_ Were you the one who’s been staring at me all these years from the rock? Why were you staring at me? Where did you come from? Why did you only turn up now?  _

 

Those are burning questions that Chanyeol very much wants to ask but he’s certain he will never get the answers for because he’s not going to ask Kyungsoo. As much as he wants answers, Chanyeol realises that he doesn’t exactly need validation about Kyungsoo’s background. He knows that Kyungsoo is a good person, a good friend, probably the only friend Chanyeol will ever need. And if this discovery of having feelings that surpass the threshold of friendship holds true, Chanyeol wants to take the leap. 

 

He’ll confess to Kyungsoo. 

 

But of course, that can only happen after he saves his love. 

 

“I’m… not sure,” Chanyeol admits, slight guilt tugging at his heartstrings when he sees Baekhyun’s face falling flat, clearly displeased at Chanyeol’s answer. “But I’m still going to save Kyungsoo.” 

 

“And why would you?” The merman with green hair and tail shoots Chanyeol a glare, but the human finds himself still standing tall. Guess those death glares that Kyungsoo gives him are far more murderous than his brother’s. “You don’t even love my younger brother.” 

 

Chanyeol has an answer ready. “Because Kyungsoo’s my friend, and if all of your thoughts are true, then I’m Kyungsoo’s one true love. Aren’t those enough of a reason to want to save him?”

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what's going into the epilogue guys and no it's not going to be yeol carrying soo — JEN LIESSSSSS _LIESSSSSS_ — bridal style


	17. Tail 17

_ You are no more, but sunken in the sea _

_ Sheer into dream, ten thousand leagues, you fell; _

_ And now you lie green-golden, while a bell swings with the tide, my heart; and all is well _

_ Till I look down, and wavering, the spell – _

_ Your loveliness – returns. There in the sea, _

_ Where you lie amber-pale and coral-cool, _

_ You are most loved, most lost, most beautiful. _

 

_ — Sea-Change ; Genevieve Taggard _

  
  


* * *

 

 

_ Being enshrouded in darkness isn’t fun. In fact, for someone who used to relish floating on the water surface while gazing at the twinkling stars overhead, it’s really not fun at all. And as Kyungsoo thinks back to all those years of swimming in the sea at night, his small self enveloped by sheer darkness for the moon had been unable to penetrate the waters and cast its silvery light upon the seabed.  _

 

_ He hadn’t been afraid then, hadn’t doubted his safety even though he couldn’t rely on his sense of sight to navigate, instead having to fully depend on his instincts and sense of direction of his underwater home instilled in him from living his whole life beneath the waves. He’d felt safe, actually, because nobody liked swimming at night for fear of their safety, so most of the time it was just him and darkness and the sea. Those times were nice, relaxing,  _ free _.  _

 

_ Yet Kyungsoo is afraid now. Frightened by the darkness that had closed in on him. Since when did he fear it? What had caused him to feel like this? He was once so carefree, but now he can’t even take a single, small step. Darkness should feel the same everywhere, and Kyungsoo  _ had  _ felt a tinge of familiarity after slowly getting used to the darkness around him.  _

 

_ But Kyungsoo still fears it, still finds himself cowering, still curls himself into a small ball in the abyss of a darkness that he hasn’t encountered in a long while. He hadn’t thought about returning, hadn’t entertained thoughts of going back to the nightly swims he used to love so much.  _

 

_ And of course Kyungsoo wouldn’t have such thoughts, not when he’s been enjoying himself in the light, not when he now relishes being bathed by sunlight. Not when he loves being beside a human who reminds him so much of the sun, and that, surely, certainly, he’s in love with this human who is lighting up his life.  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Chanyeol sneaks a glance at the person standing next to him, who’s wringing his hands and staring at the wooden floors of the ship that he’s commanding. His father is anxious, nervous, apprehensive, and all the other words that can be used to describe the wreck of a king who’s known to possess confidence and simply,  _ confidence _ that comes naturally to him. So it’s no wonder Chanyeol feels the urge to pull his father into a hug, to comfort him, to whisper assurances into his ear, to smooth his hands down his back in attempts to calm him down, to tell him that  _ we’ll be okay I know we will be _ . 

 

But Chanyeol fights the urge. There is no time for such forms of comfort, even if he thinks his father is in need of them. The King may look strong on the outside, but Chanyeol knows that he isn't. His father hasn't been  _ genuinely _ strong since his mother passed away. Chanyeol has had his mother for a little more than twelve years, but that number is nothing compared to the amount of time his parents have had spent together. Chanyeol cannot imagine the grief his father must have experienced the moment the Queen breathed her last and left him behind with their two children. 

 

But this isn't the time to be recalling the past, for Chanyeol finds himself being snapped out of his recollection by his father, whose expression speaks absolutely nothing of being in need of comfort. “Chanyeol, do you think… that Yifan– I mean–”

 

“Father,” Chanyeol gently interrupts, a hand coming up to rest upon Joonmyeon’s arm. A small comfort, a form of reassurance. It is the best of what Chanyeol is able to give in this moment. “You may speak of your friend in your own terms, there’s no need to change because of me.” 

 

Joonmyeon looks at his son. He blinks once and sees the young boy who had stood next to him during the uncountable periods of time they’ve spent plotting maps and predicting weather; he sees youth, innocence, naivety of a young Chanyeol whose head only reached the King’s chest. Joonmyeon blinks again, and the young boy vanishes. Eighteen-year-old Chanyeol now fills his sight and the King fondly agrees with the statement — with age comes change. He notes how the characteristics of young Chanyeol has withered away as the years passed, and maturity, knowledge, the common sense that accompanies adulthood filling the holes left behind. Of course, there are certain aspects of the Prince that doesn’t go away, even if Joonmyeon has wished they would (such as his son’s mischievousness and inability to do well in everything else that doesn’t have to do with the Ocean). 

 

But as the King gazes at his son, stifling a smile when Chanyeol tilts his head to the side in confusion (and effectively looking like a lost puppy), Joonmyeon knows that he’s grown up. Chanyeol’s grown up to be a wonderful young man who, incidentally, seems to harbour feelings for another. Joonmyeon isn’t blind, y’know. But he has chosen to not get himself involved because Chanyeol  _ does  _ know what to do. The Prince has grown up, he can deal with his own feelings on his own.

 

“It’s nothing,” Joonmyeon finally says, giving Chanyeol’s hand, which is still on his arm, a gentle squeeze. “I was just wondering how Yifan came to have Kyungsoo, when I was so sure that Sehun was his last child, that’s all.”

 

The corners of Chanyeol’s lips drop slightly as he hears his father’s words, obvious worry creeping onto his face. “Are you saying… that Kyungsoo isn’t–”

 

The alarm on Chanyeol’s face and in his tone alerts Joonmyeon and he quickly says, “Oh no, no,  _ no _ . I don’t doubt that Kyungsoo is Yifan’s child, I mean, can’t you see the similarities–”

 

Oh, Chanyeol  _ has  _ seen similarities between the Ocean King and Kyungsoo alright, even if he has only spoken with Yifan for a short amount of time. The pursing of lips, the scary expression — or  _ death glare  _ as fondly coined by Chanyeol — and those caterpillar brows (which are, honestly, quite adorable) are really no different, so, yes, Chanyeol doesn’t doubt that Kyungsoo is the Ocean King’s son. Which brings him to an epiphany. 

 

“Father–” 

 

“–be– yes, son?” 

 

“If Kyungsoo is from the Ocean, and is Yifan’s son, does this mean that he’s a– a–” Chanyeol stutters, eyes going wide as he tries to spit the word out. It’s a creature that Chanyeol’s been so fascinated about, so excited to meet, so why,  _ why  _ can’t he say it now? 

 

“A mermaid? Or in Kyungsoo’s case, a merman?” Joonmyeon helpfully finishes.

 

Still tongue-tied, Chanyeol can only nod as he drops his head, abashed at his sudden inability to speak of the merpeople he’s been so eager to know about. He doesn’t know what’s happened to him, but he wants it to stop,  _ needs  _ it to get out of his system because if Chanyeol doesn’t know better, he’d think he’s afraid of them now. That he  _ fears  _ them, those merpeople. 

 

“I don’t know about how things work in the Ocean, even if I was– or still am friends with a sea creature, but I suppose they might possess things that we will never in our minds believe to exist.” Joonmyeon thoughtfully supplies, and Chanyeol observes the far-away look in his father’s eyes. The look is short-lived, and Chanyeol once again finds himself looking at a smiling King. “So I believe that Kyungsoo might have ingested something that transformed his tail into legs, and I  _ would  _ know because I’ve actually… seen the transformation before.” 

 

Chanyeol nods once, slowly. He doesn’t seem to have heard his father and Joonmyeon sees that. The King smiles fondly, patting his son on the shoulder before he leaves his side. Chanyeol hasn’t even realised that his father is gone, only snapping out of the daze that he’s put himself in when the ship suddenly lurches and he stumbles forward. His arms instinctively stretches out in front of him, palms breaking his fall as they slam painfully against the wooden flooring of the ship. His pained cry is unheard over the din of the ship’s deck, which Chanyeol only registers after he’s done inspecting the abrasions on his palms and looks up from them.

 

The ship is in disarray. Deckhands are running around, instructions and orders are being barked out at almost every second, creating the overwhelming cloud of noise that’s enveloping Chanyeol who’s still half-sprawled on the floor, wide eyes taking in the scene around him and the flurry of movements of everyone render him dizzy. He ignores the sharp sting that comes from his palm when he clutches his head with a hand, using the other to push himself off the floor. Chanyeol makes his way towards the side of the ship, and along the way he thinks he caught a glimpse of his father, but he can’t be sure since his head is hurting and his eyes are blurring. It’s only when he finally reaches his destination, the shades of blue greeting his eyes does his vision clear up and he sees small boats, dispatched from the other ships, hastily rowing across the waters towards a single ship that’s just right in front of the one that’s Chanyeol’s standing on. And the moment Chanyeol darts his eyes towards it, he knows why. 

 

“Oh  _ Poseidon _ .” 

 

Half of the ship is gone. Where the front of the ship was supposed to be, there is nothing there now. The other half of the ship is sinking rapidly, its crew swimming away from the wreckage, waiting to be rescued by the small boats that are heading towards them. Chanyeol hopes that every single one of them are safe. But what could have caused this to happen? Is it Kyung–  _ no _ . Kyungsoo wouldn’t have allowed it to happen. It’s the monster in him, the thing in him that he can’t control.  _ Or is it Kyungsoo? After all, the monster  _ is  _ Kyungsoo himself–  _

 

“Chanyeol!” 

 

A rather foreign voice forces Chanyeol out of his thoughts, and he dumbly whirls around in search of that voice until he finds himself face to face with its owner. Yifan is supported by a pillar of water, an impressive scowl on his face, and Chanyeol would be wondering how the Ocean King is able to be suspended in mid-air by water until he notices the band on the merman’s wrist glowing a pretty bright blue. Ah. Sea magic? 

 

“Chanyeol, we don’t have much time,” Yifan says, the urgency in his tone worrying Chanyeol as he follows the King’s line of sight, his eyes landing on the front of his ship–

 

Chanyeol gasps. The front of his ship is damaged, large, broken and splintered pieces of wood jutting out in unnatural ways. Chanyeol puts two and two together and realises that the lurch was caused by his ship ramming into the back of the now-sunken ship. This is bad. This is really bad.

 

“I know that you’re worrying about your ship, but we don’t have time for that right now.” Yifan says, waving a large hand in front of Chanyeol’s face to get his attention. Chanyeol snaps his gaze back to the Ocean King. “Our job is to prevent more of such things from happening and the only way to do so is to stop Kyungsoo.” 

 

Chanyeol nods. “Is it my turn now… um, Kyungsoo’s father–”

 

“Please, just call me Yifan.” 

 

“Yifan.” Chanyeol tests the name of Kyungsoo’s father (and the Ocean King) on his tongue, slightly afraid of getting it wrong but if the nod from Yifan is any indication, Chanyeol’s pretty sure he’s got it right. 

 

“Mm, and yes, you’re up.”

 

“How am I going to save Kyungsoo?” 

 

Uncertainty flashes across Yifan’s face and Chanyeol doesn’t like it. He already knows that the sea dwellers have no plans and Chanyeol hasn’t exactly thought of one. He had wanted to use the time it would take to travel to where the monster is but it seems that it is impatient, having made its way towards the armada of ships instead. Its looming presence over the ships is ominous, and the dark clouds that have gathered overhead aren’t helping the darkness that’s probably creeping into everyone’s hearts, gnawing away and inserting bouts of doubt and fear instead. They’re racing against time, and there’s not much of it left.

 

“I… have a plan but I’m not sure if it will work.”

 

“I’ll take it. Anything is better than nothing in this situation.” Chanyeol sends a determined gaze at Yifan. “We don’t have time to waste, so let’s go. Let’s go save Kyungsoo.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up guys, jen might not be updating for a little while. uni is, unfortunately, starting next week for her and she's honestly afraid of what's to come. so yeah. 
> 
> (PRAY FOR ME) 
> 
> until then, she'd be on twitter @soobiscuits


	18. Tail 18

_ Nobody heard him, the dead man, _

_ But still he lay moaning: _

_ I was much further out than you thought _

_ And not waving but drowning. _

 

_ Poor chap, he always loved larking _

_ And now he’s dead _

_ It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, _

_ They said.  _

 

_ Oh, no no no, it was too cold always _

_ (Still the dead one lay moaning) _

_ I was much too far out all my life _

_ And not waving but drowning. _

 

_ — Not Waving But Drowning ; Stevie Smith _

 

 

* * *

  
  


 

_ Please.  _

 

_ Someone help me. I can’t take it, I can’t take this darkness anymore. I want light, I want light in this darkness. I want to feel warmth on my skin, I want to feel the warmth that comes with the sunlight. I miss it. Where is it? Where is the sunlight, where is the sun?  _

 

_ Where are you, Chanyeol? _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Chanyeol wills himself to not scream. 

 

He’s currently suspended in mid-air, an invisible force supporting him. Unlike Yifan, there’s no pillar of water beneath his feet, though there is an abundance of water to catch him if he falls but Chanyeol would very much like it if his thoughts don’t venture into that dangerous territory. A whole and alive Chanyeol is what he wants to be after this is over. 

 

The invisible force that is supporting Chanyeol is Yifan, and the sea magic that courses through his veins and amplified by the band, that’s glowing blue, on his wrist. Yifan has his eyes trained on Chanyeol. Around him are the rest of the sea dwellers. They’ve been tasked to keep Yifan safe, to prevent anything from happening to their King for if his focus is disrupted and his eyes stray from the human that he’s supporting up in the air, Chanyeol will be in trouble. Potentially  _ fatal _ trouble. 

 

“Chanyeol!” 

 

Someone calls from behind him and Chanyeol has to gulp, swallowing down the fear swirling within him to turn his head back. He sees Baekhyun waving a fin at him. Chanyeol doesn’t —  _ can’t  _ — wave back. 

 

“You alright up there?” Baekhyun shouts. From where Chanyeol is, he sees Jongdae slap a pincer against the fish’s body. The crab says something and Baekhyun’s face immediately drops. No doubt he’s being reprimanded. Poor fish. But Chanyeol has no time, nor mind power, to care for him right now. He has a matter on hand that’s so much more important than anything else. And that includes his safety. Because, if Chanyeol wants to honestly admit, he’s more than willing to get hurt than let Kyungsoo continue to be what he has turned into. 

 

The Kyungsoo that he knows must be suffering inside that monstrous body. He must be aching so much on the inside with every ship he destroys, every person he has indirectly or directly harmed. Kyungsoo is an inherently  _ good  _ person through and through, so Chanyeol is absolutely certain that having turned into this monstrosity must be  _ killing  _ him. And Chanyeol can’t have that. He can’t have Kyungsoo  _ gone _ . He can’t have Kyungsoo exiting his life. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t want Kyungsoo to leave, but he just knows that Kyungsoo  _ can’t  _ go. 

 

“Chanyeol, are you ready?” Yifan’s question travels to Chanyeol, and the human feebly nods for despite his immense determination to save Kyungsoo, Chanyeol still feels very afraid of being suspended in the air. He drops his eyes towards the ocean beneath him, hoping that the shades of black and blue (due to the dark clouds in the sky) will calm him down. Chanyeol is meant to accomplish great things that has to do with the Ocean, and saving Kyungsoo is going to be the first. He will succeed. He  _ must _ . 

 

The instant Chanyeol starts to drag his eyes away from the calming ocean and back up towards the monster, his throat constricts. He’s not alarmed, not  _ that  _ alarmed anyway because it’s the doing of Yifan and his magic. Yet, even as Chanyeol mentally repeats  _ don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic  _ in his mind, he feels his fingers beginning to twitch, a reflexive action that comes with the sudden lack of air that’s supposed to be coursing through his windpipe. Chanyeol keeps his hands by his side, though, doesn’t allow them to reach up to his throat to clutch at it. The breathlessness will pass, so Chanyeol just has to stay calm and don’t panic. 

 

Soon enough, Chanyeol feels his throat reopening, the tendrils of Yifan’s magic unwrapping themselves from around his windpipe and a welcomed rush of air flows into Chanyeol’s throat the moment he inhales deeply and noisily. He doesn’t feel different, doesn’t look different; his throat still seems to feel the same when Chanyeol probes it with his fingers, but Chanyeol knows that something  _ has _ changed. 

 

“I have done my part, Chanyeol. It’s your turn now.” 

 

Yifan’s deep voice travels up to Chanyeol again and even though the tone of his words are seemingly casual, Chanyeol hears the authority laced within. He also hears a father’s plea to save his son. And saving his son is what Chanyeol’s about to do. He inhales, and– 

 

“Kyungsoo!”

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ Kyungsoo snaps his head up from where it has been nestled in the crook of his arm for who knows how long. _

 

_ “Chanyeol…?” _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


What was supposed to be a normal volume of voice, the usual volume Chanyeol uses to speak with anyone, turns into an unbelievably loud call of Kyungsoo’s name. It’s as though Chanyeol is using a loudhailer. The volume of his voice startles Chanyeol, causing him to jump a little and his heart to pound when he remembers that he is suspended in the air. Being caught off guard and jerking aren’t things that are going to help keep him safe. But then again, Chanyeol has established that he is more than willing to put aside himself in order to save Kyungsoo. 

 

Chanyeol rights himself and darts his eyes up at the monster’s face or more specifically, the eyes. They’re still round and big, and would have been the same as Kyungsoo’s if not for the red irises instead of Kyungsoo’s brown ones. They match perfectly with its bed of fiery red hair, again identical with merman-Kyungsoo’s, but the more Chanyeol gazes at the monster’s face, the more he finds that it doesn’t really resemble Kyungsoo at all. Sure, the monster possesses most of Kyungsoo’s facial and body features, but the combination of the deep furrow of its brows, the downturn of the corners of its lips, as well as the curling upper lip and seemingly sharp canines on display isn’t an expression that Chanyeol associates with Kyungsoo. His friend has never had that expression on his face before and now that Chanyeol comes to think of it, the most frequent expression he’s seen on Kyungsoo’s face is his smiling one. This foreign combination is ugly, and Chanyeol very much wishes to wipe it off of monster-Kyungsoo’s face. 

 

And Chanyeol wants to look away. Wants to  _ not  _ look at this monstrosity that is not his Kyungsoo– and  _ what. Wait.  _ My  _ Kyungsoo?  _ Chanyeol shakes his head at that thought, pushing it to the back of his mind to entertain it later. He’s not going to spend precious time pondering over that– that slip of his tongue. Yeah, it’s a mistake, there’s no way Chanyeol is thinking of Kyungsoo as his– 

 

Chanyeol mentally slaps himself and vehemently shoves the thought further back, into the recesses of his mind. He orders it (as if a thought is a living thing) to stay there and not resurface until he finishes what he’s supposed to do. 

 

“Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol asks. “Are you… Are you in there? Can you hear me, I’m Chanyeol!” 

 

Monster-Kyungsoo had been eying one of the ships, but at Chanyeol’s call, it snaps its gleaming red eyes to the human. Chanyeol gulps, praying that his face is not betraying the slight bout of fear that’s creeping up on him as the monster shifts towards him, casting its shadow over him and engulfing Chanyeol into its darkness. 

 

“K-Kyungsoo? Can you… Are you… in there?” 

 

The monster bears down on Chanyeol, its face inching dangerously closer and closer and Chanyeol can feel it breathing down on him, the heat of its breath making him perspire. He feels more afraid than ever, especially since those sharp canines are within his vicinity, but the constant thought of saving his friend keeps him from faltering, from weakening and chickening out. It’s not for the sake of his princely image; Chanyeol genuinely wants to get Kyungsoo back and the only way to do so is to be brave. 

 

“Kyungsoo, if you can hear me, can you… uh, do something?” Chanyeol doesn’t know what he’s doing, frankly. He’s just saying what comes to his mind, whatever things he can do to keep the monster’s attention off his father’s ships and Kyungsoo’s family and friends. He doesn’t have a plan, per se, but monster-Kyungsoo seems to be listening to him, so Chanyeol decides to build on this fact. “Can you do something that will let me know that you’re listen–”

 

The monster swings its tail, and Chanyeol watches its movement with bated breath as the fin nears one of the ships… only to barely miss wrecking it; the ship rocks vehemently, its crew frozen on deck but no one is harmed. Thank goodness, but, _crap_ _that is not the ‘something’ that I had in mind._ The back of Chanyeol’s neck suddenly prickles, and Chanyeol knows that that move by monster-Kyungsoo has caught the attention of his father who’s somewhere on one of the ships, no doubt worrying about his safety. He knows for sure that the King of The Surface is probably close to wanting to order for a cannonball to monster-Kyungsoo’s face, to redirect its attention away from his precious son. 

 

But Chanyeol can’t have anyone or anything harming his Kyung– um,  _ Yifan’s son _ . His father may be Yifan’s friend but a father is not going to tolerate any danger that happens to his children and the King of The Ocean looks as every bit as a protective father should look like (not that Chanyeol knows  _ how exactly  _ one should look like). Chanyeol has noticed the worried glances Yifan has sent in Kyungsoo’s way, or at any of his other sons when they swim a tad too close to the ships for comfort. So yeah, Chanyeol is not going to let Kyungsoo come to harm, even if he’s a monster right now. For Yifan’s sake.  _ For Yifan’s sake _ and not for his own. 

 

“That was not what I wanted you to do, Kyungsoo! You’re not supposed to swing your tail but fine, alright, I wasn’t specific enough so now I want you to wave at me. Wave your hand if you can hear me, Kyungsoo!” 

 

And Chanyeol waits, his breath hitching in his throat with every passing second that gradually turns excruciating as monster-Kyungsoo doesn’t do anything, doesn’t respond. Chanyeol’s about to try again when he sees the monster’s fingers twitching erratically and the hand moves just a teeny tiny bit– 

 

A deafening  _ boom  _ of a cannon is the next thing Chanyeol hears and a split second later, something slams into his side, throwing him through the air, strong wind blowing against his entire body. Chanyeol unconsciously drops his head, and a blurry mix of various shades of brown and blue fills his sight. It’s then does he realise that the colours are getting nearer and nearer to him, and Chanyeol’s eyes widen in fear for he no longer feels Yifan supporting him. 

 

Chanyeol is going to hit either the ships or the water, and there is nothing he can do to save himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why is psych so challenging guys why are there so many readings to do ;;;;; 
> 
> and no i did not die from my first day of uni because if i did, you wouldn't have read this new chapter. and if you're not observant, you probably wouldn't have noticed that this story is ending in two chapters.


	19. Tail 19

_ Exultation is the going _

_ Of an inland soul to sea – _

_ Past the houses, past the headlands, _

_ Into deep Eternity! _

 

_ Bred as we, among the mountains, _

_ Can the sailor understand _

_ The divine intoxication _

_ Of the first league out from land? _

 

_ — “Exultation is the Going” ; Emily Dickinson _

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

_ “Kyungsoo? Are you… Are you in there? Can you hear me, I’m Chanyeol!”  _

 

_ Chanyeol…?  _

 

_ “K-Kyungsoo? Can you… Are you… in there?”  _

 

_ Kyungsoo has never felt so relieved in his life. His eyes scan the darkness all around him, as though Chanyeol is going to appear somewhere. Alas, his human friend is nowhere to be found.  _

 

_ “Kyungsoo, if you can hear me, can you… uh, do something? Can you do something that will let me know that you’re listen–” _

 

_ Kyungsoo doesn't know what happened, but his chest suddenly hurts, the pain rippling within akin to a whack on the back by Second Brother Lu Han. Something must have happened, there's no way a bout of chest pain will just afflict him out of nowhere.  _

 

_ But the thing is, what happened? _

 

_ “That was not what I wanted you to do, Kyungsoo! You’re not supposed to swing your tail–” _

 

_ My tail…? _

 

_ Oh gosh, his tail must have done something. It must have destroyed another ship, caused more harm to those innocent crew members. Kyungsoo isn't fine with this. He doesn't want this at all.  _

 

_ “–but fine, alright, I wasn’t specific enough so now I want you to wave at me. Wave your hand if you can hear me, Kyungsoo!”  _

 

_ That's easy. Easy enough for Kyungsoo to– No, wait. How is Kyungsoo doing to do that when he doesn't have control of his body or whatever he has become? How is he going to show Chanyeol that he can hear him, that he's going to wave his hand? How in the seven seas is he going to do that?  _

 

_ Oh Poseidon, what is Kyungsoo to do?  _

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ I'm going to die.  _

 

It’s a grim thought, and it’s the  _ only  _ thought that stays in Chanyeol’s mind as gravity envelopes his body. He knows that he’s descending, no longer ascending or flying sideways as he had been a little while ago. His limbs are stretched out above him, the free fall effortlessly allowing him to keep his limbs like that, and Chanyeol amusedly thinks  _ how nice my fingers look against the backdrop of the dark clouds _ . He’s shifted his head to let his eyes look towards the sky, no longer tilting it slightly downwards after realising that he was getting dizzy from staring at the flurry of brown and blue beneath him. 

 

_ The dark clouds are actually rather pretty. _

 

It’s a stray thought, but it doesn’t replace the previous one that still plagues Chanyeol’s mind as he continues to drop at a speed that he, in flight, can’t really tell whether it’s fast or slow. All he knows is that he’s falling, that there’s none of Yifan’s sea magic enveloping him ever since something powerfully threw him out of his position in the air. With none of the Ocean King’s magic in him, save for perhaps the bout of it in his throat which Chanyeol still feels swirling around, Chanyeol knows for sure that nothing is going to prevent his inevitable death, his body gruesomely shattering into flesh and blood and bones the moment he hits the surface of the ocean. 

 

So he waits. Waits with resignation while he admires the way his splayed hands are seemingly grabbing onto the dark clouds that are still overhead, fingers curling with instinctive desire to want to grab onto something, anything, or  _ someone  _ but in actuality Chanyeol’s got absolutely nothing in his hands. He doesn’t even have Kyungsoo,  _ whom I will never be able to save since I’m going to– _

 

“Chanyeol!” 

 

Chanyeol hears Yifan at the same time his body jerks and he feels a foreign yet familiar substance spreading across his body. Yifan’s magic is back, but the sudden stop in mid-air causes Chanyeol’s breath to hitch in his throat and he lets out a ridiculously deafening cough that threatens to blow his eardrums because,  _ oh _ . So his throat still does contain Yifan’s magic. Chanyeol doesn’t want to know how many people have gone deaf when he was screaming while flying through the air. It’s strange how he himself hasn’t gone deaf yet but he supposes that the person experiencing it is an exception. 

 

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol hears Yifan ask. The Ocean King has carefully maneuvered the human to his side, and Chanyeol notices the telltale glow of blue on the merman’s wrist. He mentally thanks the wristband, and Yifan, for saving his life. 

 

Chanyeol nods. “Yeah, I am. But what happened, though? Wasn’t Kyungsoo looking like he was going to wave but suddenly I found my whole body being slapped at one side and I was flying in the air and I couldn’t feel your magic around me at all and I thought I was going to die and Kyungsoo would never be saved and–”

 

A large hand covers Chanyeol’s mouth, and effectively shuts him up. Chanyeol’s eyes immediately widen and he finds Yifan staring at him, an unimpressed expression on his face. “I wonder what does Soo see in you...” is what Chanyeol barely strains his ears to pick up as Yifan removes his hand from Chanyeol’s mouth after making sure that the human is silent and  _ will  _ stay silent. Chanyeol doesn’t know what to make out of Yifan’s murmur, but decides that it’s not the time to be worrying about it anyway so he pushes it to the back of his mind. 

 

“The reason I lost my hold over you,” Yifan starts to say, as he effortlessly pulls Chanyeol along with him while they make their way back to where the other sea dwellers are still at. “Was because some bloody idiot on one of your father’s ship accidentally fired a cannon and it hit Soo–”

 

“WHAT!? Soo got hit–”

 

“–and I was so shocked that my eyes instantly darted over to my son, and my focus on you was lost and because of that bloody cannonball hurting him, Soo became angry and lashed out on the first thing in his sight.” Yifan turns his head slightly towards Chanyeol, and Chanyeol understands immediately. He had been the one monster-Kyungsoo was looking at, so it’s no wonder he was the target of Kyungsoo’s fury. “Instead of waving, he swung his hand at you and you flew. I could hear Joonmyeon ordering for all the ships to follow you but Soo was in a flying rage and he kind of started to wreck everything around him, so I told your father that I’d get you instead.” 

 

Yifan’s smile is something that Chanyeol doesn’t expect to receive at this point in time since he’s a human and the Ocean King has just mentioned (super furiously) that an incompetent human of a crew member had fired a cannon which harmed his son, so Chanyeol is honestly taken aback. There is no animosity or hostility in that small smile, even though Chanyeol’s fairly certain that the Ocean King harbours a certain level of distrust towards humans, if the way he’s kept his sons and underwater citizens away from The Surface is any indication. 

 

So Chanyeol accepts it graciously, and returns it with a smile of his own, though it is quick to fade the instant a loud roar travels to their ears. Chanyeol doesn’t need to look in the noise’s direction to know who made that. And as much as it hurts Chanyeol to see the numerous wreckage littering around the monster, worry flooding him as he frantically searches for his father only to heave a loud sigh of relief when he spies one of Kyungsoo’s brothers—Sehun, was it—pulling the King to shore, Chanyeol hurts even _more_ , wants to cry even, when he finally shifts his gaze to the monster’s face and its expression speaks volumes of the pain it—or Kyungsoo, Chanyeol thinks—is feeling. 

 

It’s then does Chanyeol vow to save Kyungsoo, no matter what it takes. And even though Chanyeol can’t see  _ see _ Kyungsoo, the way the monster is lashing out with its arms flailing around, tail dangerously swinging and hitting the waters, the seemingly pained screeches it's letting out, tells Chanyeol that there isn’t much time left. The monster is going to consume Kyungsoo, going to devour his personality, his dark (but adorable) expressions, his round eyes, his pair of heart-shaped lips, and his warmth. Kyungsoo doesn’t know it but Chanyeol loves waking up and feeling the warmth Kyungsoo’s body emanates beside him. It’s one of the many reasons Chanyeol intentionally crosses over to Kyungsoo’s side of the bed.

 

A firm  _ Yifan, let’s try again  _ breaks the silence that had unknowingly fallen upon the two of them. Chanyeol is the first one to turn his head towards the other, and his expression is determined, the flame in his eyes burning brighter and stronger than before. Chanyeol’s resolution to save Kyungsoo seems to have been renewed, and if Yifan is impressed by the human’s resolve, he doesn’t show it. Yifan just nods, then cocks a brow. “Ready?” 

 

“More than I will ever be.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ The pain within Kyungsoo’s chest is getting nigh unbearable.  _

 

_ Kyungsoo hasn’t even realised that pain had seeped into him, silently crawled its way through his body and hid in his chest until it was time to make its presence known. And it did the deed in an extremely terrifying way that rendered Kyungsoo breathless with thoughts of him having breathed his last and that he was going to die and join his mother in the heavens above.  _

 

_ His chest exploded in pain at the same time Kyungsoo heard a loud  _ boom _ , followed by a yell that sounded like Chanyeol. Although he was occupied by the painfully searing heat raging like untamed wildfires in his chest, Kyungsoo still kept tabs on Chanyeol’s yell, concern and worry for his friend flooding him when Chanyeol keeps yelling. He couldn’t see what was happening to his human friend, and this unknown factor only increased the speed at which Kyungsoo’s worry grew. The unadulterated fear in Chanyeol’s prolonged shouts clawed at Kyungsoo, the figurative deep gashes adding onto the excruciating pain that was still afflicting his chest. Kyungsoo didn’t know then why he hadn’t passed out yet.  _

 

_ Now, he knows.  _

 

_ “Kyungsoo!”  _

 

_ Chanyeol’s voice resounds clearly all around him, and Kyungsoo notes how the pain in his chest lessens a teeny tiny bit. It still hurts terribly much, bordering on unbearable, but for the sake of listening to another word said by Chanyeol with the voice he loves so very much, Kyungsoo holds on.  _

 

_ “I know you’re in there, so you better be listening!”  _

 

_ Kyungsoo manages to chuckle a little, though not without flinching in pain afterwards, when he fondly imagines patting Chanyeol’s cheek while he mouths  _ I am listening you idiot _ , and receiving Chanyeol’s pout in return. He closes his eyes and focuses on his ears, pointedly trying hard to ignore the wildfire that is still raging in his chest. The monster must still be doing something that he wouldn’t do, and Kyungsoo can’t help but think about the amount of damage he’s done on whatever the monster has destroyed.  _

 

_ “I don’t know how I’m going to turn you back into the Kyungsoo that I lo– I mean, I know, but I’m going to try everything that I can to help you. But if there’s something that I’m certain of, or that Yixing is certain of, is that you have to help me too. That you have to help yourself, that you believe that you can change back to who you were before. You’d have to do it from inside of the monster, Kyungsoo, you have to help yourself. You got to believe in yourself, and you got to believe in me, too.”  _

 

I do believe in you  _ is what Kyungsoo desperately wants to say to Chanyeol the moment he hears Chanyeol’s beautiful voice wafting to his ears. And since his other senses are shut off, his sense of hearing is amplified, and there is nothing more comforting and soothing than listening— _ wholeheartedly listening _ —to the voice of the boy whom he’s loved for five years. The tone of Chanyeol’s words embodies what Chanyeol wants to convey to Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol’s strong and determined desire to save him. That he  _ will  _ save him.  _

 

_ And Kyungsoo couldn’t be happier and relieved to know that.  _

 

_ “Yixing believes that the only way to turn you back is for you to receive an act done your one true love, and your family and friends think that that person is… me. I don’t know why they reckon it’s me; they wouldn’t tell me anything, saying how it’s best that you explain it to me on your own. And yes, I would need your explanation later on, but in this short period of time between your change and right now, I think… I think I’ve figured something out. Something on my part. Something that has been in me ever since I met you at the rock.” _

 

_ Kyungsoo hears silence after that, his ears growing cold as Chanyeol’s voice fades into nothingness, taking its familiar and welcomed warmth along with it. With nothing to distract him from the pain, Kyungsoo lets slip a whimper and burrows his face deeper into the crook of an arm. He pulls his knees even closer to his chest, as though pressing his thighs against it will help to lessen the excruciating pain wreaking havoc in his chest. It doesn’t.  _

 

_ “And…” _

 

_ Chanyeol is back! Kyungsoo’s fingers unconsciously grip onto his arms tighter, his barely-there nails digging into the flesh hard, but not hard enough to break through the skin and draw blood.  _

 

_ “And I think, no, I  _ know _ , that my feelings for you have changed. I’ve thought you as a friend, a very good friend, a very good friend whom I shouldn’t have feelings for. But the happenings of today gave me a wake-up call. You turned into a monster, and destroyed my father’s ships. You almost killed me, could have killed me– wait, this isn’t the point. The point is, I got slapped across the face by my feelings. It forced me to realise just how much you mean to me, just how important you are to me. And I know this because I’m afraid, frightened, honestly, I’ll lose you. That I’ll lose you to this monster that’s probably eating you up, chewing at your soul, swallowing you until there’s none of you left in this world. And I can’t have that.  _ I really can’t. _ ”  _

 

_ Huh. Chanyeol’s words are baffling Kyungsoo. They’re swirling around endlessly like a whirlpool in Kyungsoo’s mind, piling onto the pain that’s still burning within his chest. The growing headache is doing nothing to help Kyungsoo’s threshold of pain, which he has been gradually approaching but since Chanyeol has spoken again, the pain is slowly but surely decreasing. And Kyungsoo thinks he gets what Chanyeol is implying, but the pain is a tad too much for him to multitask so Kyungsoo wants to know, wants to hear Chanyeol say it.  _

 

_ “The reason why I can’t lose you, Kyungsoo, is because I think—no, there’s no more thinking—I  _ know _ , I really, really,  _ really  _ do know that I have feelings for you. Feelings that have gone way beyond those of friendship.” _

 

_ The pain within Kyungsoo’s chest is lessening, and a strange feeling is washing over Kyungsoo. It feels foreign, but the way it’s not causing harm to Kyungsoo leads him to welcome it. It’s an unknown feeling, but Kyungsoo has an inkling of what it might be.  _

 

_ “I… I love you, Soo, I really do.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> four words: chansoo. yellow toy. boobs.
> 
> another four words: chansoo. hands. covering ears.
> 
> bye, drowning in exordium chansoo feels. what's new. 
> 
> ps, one more chapter to go before it allllllll ends huhuhuuu ;;;


	20. Epilogue

_ The world below the brine; _

_ Forests at the bottom of the sea – the branches _

_ and leaves, _

_ Sea lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds – _

_ the thick tangle, the openings, and the pink turf, _

_ Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white _

_ and gold – the play of light through the water, _

_ Dumb swimmers there among the rocks – coral, _

_ gluten, grass, rushes – the ailment of the _

_ swimmers, _

_ Sluggish existences grazing there, suspended, _

_ or slowly crawling close to the bottom, _

_ The sperm whale at the surface, blowing air and spray, _

_ or disporting with his flukes, _

_ The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy _

_ sea leopard, and the sting ray; _

_ Passions there – wars, pursuits, tribes – sight in those _

_ ocean depths – breathing that thick-breathing air, _

_ as so many do; _

_ The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle _

_ air breathed by beings like us, who walk _

_ this sphere; _

_ The change onward from ours, to that of beings _

_ who walk other spheres.  _

 

_ — The World Below The Brine ; Walt Whitman _

  
  


* * *

  
  


Chanyeol wakes up to a gentle, salty breeze that wafts through the opened doors of his balcony. He subconsciously tilts his head towards the source of the scent that’s a constant in his room, relishing in the saltiness that he tastes upon his tongue in a silent yawn, and the coolness on his exposed arm as he brings a hand up to scratch at his head. The hand travels down to his chest, wanting to scratch at an itch there, but Chanyeol meets with something soft instead. If it was any other human, the human would have screamed at the foreign objects in contact with his body. But Chanyeol isn't  _ any other human _ (though he is human), so he doesn't scream, or make any noise at that; besides, Chanyeol has had almost a month to get used to the sight that is almost as constant as the sea breeze that blows through his room every morning. 

 

A headful of fiery red hair is splayed on his chest, while a steady, constant pattern of breaths is peppering the same spot on his sternum. A smile unconsciously spreads across Chanyeol’s face as he drinks in the view. Even after a month and more, he's never going to be tired of the brightly coloured hair. (This is why other humans would scream; no  _ human  _ has such hair.) He’s about to thread his fingers through those gorgeous locks when a loud snore breaks the tranquility (and the mood), causing Chanyeol to almost burst out into laughter. Thankfully, he doesn’t, and Chanyeol gently pushes his fingers into the mess of red hair. 

 

In the, approximately (Chanyeol isn't counting), twelfth minute of him curling his fingers in the bed of red hair, does the owner stir. “Mm, enjoying yourself, Yeol?”

 

Chanyeol’s smile immediately grows wider, turning his expression into one that resembles eerily like a serial killer. He's been warned on more than one occasions about smiling like that by his father and sister, but Chanyeol pays them no mind.  _ Someone  _ likes it, and that is all that matters. “Of course! How could I not be enjoying myself when only  _ I _ get to have my hand in this beautiful mess?” And Chanyeol emphasises his point by fondly tousling the hair within his hand. 

 

“Well… Continue your enjoyment. I’m just going to…”

 

“H-Hey!” Chanyeol squawks, fingers stopping the tousling and he pulls his hand away from the mop of hair. He shifts his torso, attempting to move his head in order to get a good look at the face of the person who is lying on his chest. “H-How can you go back to sleep when I’m playing w-with your hair!” 

 

A yawn. “... Am I supposed to be awake then? What for?” 

 

“U-Um,” Chanyeol stutters, eyes blinking rapidly while his brain works to think of a suitable answer. As expected of the prince who’s only good at things to do with the ocean, Chanyeol doesn’t think of anything. 

 

“Mm. I’ll be going back to sleep then.” 

 

“S-Soo– Ow!” 

 

“Don't  _ Soo  _ me,” Kyungsoo tsks, red hair swaying with the movement of him shifting his head to rest his chin on Chanyeol’s chest, next to the bite mark that he’s just made. “I’m entitled to sleep.” 

 

Chanyeol gapes at Kyungsoo’s teeth marks that are clearly printed on his chest, not daring to believe that Kyungsoo—his  _ innocent _ and  _ kind _ Kyungsoo—has just bitten him. “D-Did you just… b-bite me?” He sees Kyungsoo’s eyes flit towards the mark. The smirk on Kyungsoo’s face shouldn’t rouse Chanyeol, nor make him  _ feel things _ , but it does. “Are you sure you’re a merman and not a werewolf– Ahh!”

 

Kyungsoo pinches Chanyeol’s nose with his thumb and index, the other hand pushing himself up and away from Chanyeol. He's not far, though; Kyungsoo is never far from Chanyeol, and never will be. The same two fingers then pinch his cheek, eliciting a shriek from Chanyeol who immediately shoots up and growls. His two hands are reaching towards Kyungsoo, fingers curling like a tiger cornering his prey, but then Kyungsoo glares and Chanyeol all but deflates. He falls back onto the bed with a resigned whimper. 

 

Kyungsoo laughs, and Chanyeol snaps his eyes to him. For someone whose voice has been locked away in exchange for legs, everything that has to do with Kyungsoo’s voice is precious to Chanyeol. Literally  _ everything  _ that Kyungsoo does with his voice—laughing, talking, singing, humming, yawning—is absolutely precious and recorded in Chanyeol’s memories. Chanyeol will never,  _ never  _ forget the first time he heard Kyungsoo’s voice. Kyungsoo had looked at him with moonlight shining down on them, the silvery light illuminating his features and that gaze Kyungsoo directs at him is so soft, so beautiful, and then Kyungsoo said,  _ “Hello, Chanyeol.”  _

 

Chanyeol lost it then (and burst into incoherent sobs that had everyone laughing, with Kyungsoo pushing Chanyeol’s head into his chest in a weak attempt to hide Chanyeol from his teasing family and friends, and Joonmyeon and Yura). 

 

But it's not just Kyungsoo’s voice that Chanyeol treasures. He cherishes every bit of Kyungsoo,  _ everything  _ about Kyungsoo. Having gone through an episode (which is more than enough) of almost having lost Kyungsoo, Chanyeol learns the hard way that it's so,  _ so _ easy to lose a loved one. He's almost lost the chance to tell Kyungsoo his true, hidden feelings that he's had to unearth from within him. Fortunately, Kyungsoo managed to return to Chanyeol in the form that he's seen. Well, kind of. 

 

Chanyeol still was surprised to see Kyungsoo with a tail the moment the purple glow that had enveloped Kyungsoo, after Chanyeol had shouted that he loved him, faded and the unconscious figure of Kyungsoo floated where the monster used to be. Chanyeol has never swum so fast in his entire life, and he made it to Kyungsoo first with a couple of metres ahead of Yifan. He pretended to not see the impressed expression that graced Yifan’s face to focus on the merman he had in his arms. Even in merman form, Kyungsoo still looked…  _ Kyungsoo _ . Nothing has changed about him, except instead of legs Kyungsoo’s got a tail—a really pretty green tail—and it's then did Chanyeol realise that he's really in love. That he truly loves Kyungsoo, no matter what form he takes. 

 

Which is why when Kyungsoo straddles Chanyeol, thighs on both sides of hips, Chanyeol doesn’t hesitate to run his hands all over Kyungsoo’s folded legs. From his thighs to his calves and his toes, Chanyeol maps them all in his mind with his exploring fingers while he gazes at them with such reverence that causes Kyungsoo to blush furiously. “Stop looking at them like that!” 

 

“I can't, and you know why,” Chanyeol breathes out, eyes still following his hands, the tips of his fingers leaving behind trails of fire on Kyungsoo’s exposed legs. Chanyeol’s fingers reach the hem of Kyungsoo’s (Chanyeol’s, actually) boxers, and the human can't help but want to tease the merman whose face is still crimson. He also wants to take revenge for the bite that’s still on his chest. Yura is never going to let him leave it down if she sees it. 

 

Chanyeol slowly slides his fingers beneath the hem while suppressing the knowing smirk that threatens to form when he hears Kyungsoo’s telltale gasp and Chanyeol continues to push his fingers even more– 

 

“If you continue to move your fingers, I’m going to sleep in my room tonight.” Kyungsoo’s stern warning comes from above and Chanyeol instantly freezes. He gulps and timidly tilts his head upwards, not in the least surprised to see Kyungsoo glaring down at him. “And you know how I don’t come back up to The Surface for at least three days once I return home.” Kyungsoo’s eyes narrow. “Would you like that? Would you like to be separated from me, Chanyeol?” 

 

No, Chanyeol wouldn’t like that. He most certainly would  _ never  _ like what Kyungsoo has just said, or threatened, or warned. Chanyeol doesn’t want to spend a minute, not even a second, away from Kyungsoo now that they’re together. He’s not going to lose Kyungsoo again. So it’s with him sliding his fingers out of Kyungsoo’s boxers while shaking his head does Chanyeol reply, “No, I wouldn’t. I don’t want to be away from you, Kyungsoo.” 

 

Chanyeol has dropped his eyes, but he feels the heat from Kyungsoo’s glare waning. He still doesn’t look up, though, even if he knows that Kyungsoo’s gazing at him fondly, as Kyungsoo always does after telling Chanyeol off for something that he’s done wrong. The small hand that gently places itself against Chanyeol’s cheek is also something that Chanyeol has expected, since it’s also what Kyungsoo does after scolding, but the soft kiss that Kyungsoo plants on Chanyeol’s pouty lips is something that catches Chanyeol off-guard. His yelp is proof of that. 

 

Kyungsoo chuckles, his lips still against Chanyeol’s. “Surprised, Yeol?” 

 

Still reeling from Kyungsoo’s sudden kiss attack, Chanyeol doesn’t answer. It takes Kyungsoo a nose nuzzle and another light peck on his lips for Chanyeol to snap out of his daze and finally reply. He doesn’t reply with words, though. 

 

Chanyeol wraps his arms around Kyungsoo and quickly flips their positions. He takes in Kyungsoo’s blown eyes and reddening cheeks for only a couple of seconds, before he surges forward to capture Kyungsoo’s parted lips in a kiss. Chanyeol kisses Kyungsoo deeply, an act that he’s never done before with Kyungsoo because he doesn’t want to scare Kyungsoo off, but somehow, Chanyeol wants to do it now. It’s all Kyungsoo’s fault. Why did he tease and tempt him and make him  _ feel things _ . Ugh. 

 

The fervour that Kyungsoo returns Chanyeol’s kiss with is something Chanyeol isn’t expecting, but he welcomes it anyway and even though Chanyeol doesn’t want to heed the screams for oxygen from his lungs, he has to if he wants to be alive in the next minute. Chanyeol reluctantly pulls his lips away from Kyungsoo’s, the distance between them barely existent, and inhales deeply, and noisily. Kyungsoo smiles and Chanyeol notices the fondness in those round eyes he loves so much. 

 

“You’re really noisy, you know that, Yeol?” Kyungsoo comments, slightly moving his head from side to side, his nose nuzzling Chanyeol’s in the process. 

 

Chanyeol returns the favour by prodding Kyungsoo’s cheeks with his nose, earning himself one of Kyungsoo’s super rare giggles. He basks in the sound, a satisfied and blissful expression on his face. “But you  _ like _ noisy, Soo.” He moves back to his original spot, lips pressing ever so softly against Kyungsoo’s, eyes gazing fondly at Kyungsoo’s. Chanyeol always drowns in them, drowns in the abyss that is Kyungsoo’s beautiful,  _ beautiful  _ soul (since someone said that a person’s eyes are windows to his soul). 

 

Kyungsoo giggles again. “Yeah,” He breathes. “I do  _ love  _ noisy.” And Chanyeol feels Kyungsoo’s lips pressing against his once again in a kiss that speaks of a million possibilities of their love.

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Maybe agreeing to attend Baekhyun’s birthday party was a mistake.”

 

“It’s not a  _ maybe _ , it’s a resounding  _ yes _ .”

 

“You do know that Baekhyun is  _ your  _ best friend, Soo.” 

 

“... I do. But I also know that I’ve always wanted to fillet him into sashimi.”

 

“You’re not serious, are you, Soo?”

 

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

 

“Uh, no?” 

 

“Exactly. And, here, hold on to my hand. I don’t want you to drown again even though you can’t drown since my father has practically ensured that with his magic.” 

 

“Just because Yifan has done that doesn’t mean I won’t die down here, Soo! I’m still prey to underwater predators as long as I can’t swim properly with this tail of mine! It’s so pretty and matches your hair but I can’t swim well enough to show off how pretty it is while moving gracefully like yours!” 

 

“You just need more practice, Yeol. I’m a good example of  _ practice makes perfect _ . I can almost run without tripping on my two feet now.” 

 

“I miss the days of when I had to catch you whenever you stumbled or tripped, though.”

 

“... That’s not the point. The point is, Yeol, you’ll get the hang of it. Swimming with a tail is obviously not easy for a human like you, but you’ve been swimming with fabric tails in the pool for almost all your life so how is a  _ real  _ tail any different? I’d say it’s your mindset that’s stopping you.”

 

“You think so?”

 

“I know so. I know that one day you’ll be the one to pull me along when we visit my family and friends down here. I just know it.”

 

“Th-Thanks, Soo.” 

 

“You’re welcome. And.. Uh, Yeol?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Thank… Thank you for loving me, for not being mad at me even though I lied about me being a human and accepting that I am a merman and I– mmmfh!”

 

“...”

 

“... Stop kissing me to shut me up!”

 

“You like it, though, I know you do!”

 

“... I don't.”

 

“Mm hmm, I can't hear anything else other than  _ I do  _ over the sound of your  _ DENIAL _ !” 

 

“Ugh, why did I fall for you.”

 

“Aww, I love you too, Soo!”  

  
  


(“Yeol?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I love you too.”)

  
  


* * *

 

 

_ In a sea of strangers, _

_ you’ve longed to know me. _

_ Your life spent sailing _

_ to my shores. _

 

_ The arms that yearn _

_ to someday hold me, _

_ will ache beneath _

_ the heavy oars. _

 

_ Please take your time _

_ and take it slowly; _

_ as all you do _

_ will run its course. _

 

_ And nothing else _

_ can take what only— _

_ was always meant _

_ as solely yours. _

 

_ – Sea of Strangers; Lang Leav _

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was eating a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast and got reminded to update this cheesy excuse of an epilogue lol what's new jen. anyway, thank you for sticking with me throughout this—whatever this is. been stealthily working on a sequel to the [pacrim fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7564501) when i should be revising for my uni modules, so expect that to be up like in dec or something lolol #lifeofaunistudent 
> 
> catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/soobiscuits?lang=en). i don't bite. but i do bawl about the perfection that is do kyungsoo.


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